


The Triangle

by AlexiHollis



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fem!Jacob Black, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Pack Family, Polyamory, Renee sucks in this sorry, because I am lesbian, because I wanted to make it lesbian, fem!Edward Cullen, so...this was the result, what even is this its 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2020-03-26 18:23:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 26,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiHollis/pseuds/AlexiHollis
Summary: Edythe and Jules are sentinels who came online unusually early and struggle with their powers, until Bella returns to Forks.OROT3 are in the Sentinel and Guide universe





	1. Prologue

Carlisle counted the seconds as he breathed, trying to calm himself from the adrenaline rush of the previous…half hour? Twenty minutes? It felt like an eternity in itself. The girl, young and small, laid sedated, hooked up to silent machines in a Sentinel-Proof room. He gently mopped the sweat drops from her forehead with a soft-wipe, making sure to leave no residue, before he left the room himself.

Across the hall, on one of the many benches, sat the school teacher – almost as distraught and horrified as she seemed when she first ran in next to the girl with the paramedics. She sat straighter, wiping at tears.

“Ms. Black,” Carlisle smiled, reminding himself that _she_ was the only adult who _hadn’t_ failed the young girl.

“How is she?” Ms. Black asked, standing up, hands wrung in front of herself.

“I can’t tell you much without her parents here, but she will be fine,” he promised. He looked around subtly, but no one he could see matched the bronze hair or exact complexion of the girl. Even lessening his shields proved fruitless as no one matched the expected panicked frenzy of parents whose child collapsed in Sentinel Distress at only seven years old.

“The police are on the way to the home now.” Carlisle turned to see Caius, one of the higher ranked specialists in the Port Angeles Area Sentinel-Guide Care Center. Carlisle could see a small, unlabeled pill bottle in Caius’ hands, which the man handed to the younger doctor.

His eyebrows raised as he opened the bottle to see the unmistakable, brightly colored pills – blockers.

“Thank you for bringing her in Ms. Black,” Caius’ smile was tight. “We can take care of her from here – you’re free to go.”

“Oh,” Ms. Black fumbled, looking at the monitor showing the inside of Edythe’s room. “Are – are you sure? I can wait until her parents get here.”

Before Carlisle could thank the woman for her care, Caius decided on a different approach – “As of this moment her parents are being investigated on child abuse and neglect charges. You have done all you can do and it would be best for everyone if you returned to your school.”

Carlisle cringed internally. There was a reason Aro pulled Caius off of care rotations.

To her credit, Ms. Black’s back simply straightened. “I will return to my school, but I will be back here at the end of the day to drop off her things.” She went to leave before turning back to look at Carlisle, “Be gentle, please. She’s a sweet, _sensitive_ girl.” Then, the teacher took her leave.

Caius simply rolled his eyes once she left, “Teachers. The woman isn’t even a guide for Christ’s sake.” He gestured to the bottle Carlisle held, “What do you make of that?”

“Um,” Carlisle turned the bottle over. “This definitely wasn’t her coming online. But she’s so young…”

“Yeah,” Caius clucked his tongue, looking over at the monitor of the still sleeping girl. “Can’t really blame the parents for this, as stupid as it was. They needed to bring her in the second she presented.”

Carlisle soured slightly running his fingers over the cap of the bottle. With this information, he could better understand what happened (somewhat, at least). She took the blockers long enough for her body to begin to build up a tolerance resulting in her becoming overwhelmed by her senses, yet not enough to allow her body its natural defense of going into zone.

Considering her parents most likely started her once she came online, as Sentinels rarely successfully concealed themselves especially as children, and the tolerance to the blockers put her at having been taking them for at least a year…Seven itself wasn’t too rare for a Sentinel to come online, but almost always occurred with a guide. Six and without a guide, however, made for a quite different story.

No Normie parent would be able to handle that kind of child and any Care Center would be justified in giving custody to a specialist. No Sentinel or Guide parent would allow their child to be taking blockers. Carlisle shoved down the whirlwind of feelings swirling in his stomach.

“Exciting day to be you, though,” Caius shrugged, looking away from the monitor. His interest became snatched in something in his binder before the words computed in Carlisle’s head.

“Why is it exciting to be me?”

Caius didn’t look at Carlisle, just continued reading. “You’re the only specialist in the Center without a Custody Child. Aro’s giving her to you.”

Carlisle blinked, “But what about her parents?”

Caius snorted, “They forfeited their parental rights the minute they slipped that kid a blocker. You’re her specialist – she should be dead. As…annoying as I may find teachers, Ms. Black did save her life.” He began walking away to leave Carlisle in stunned silence, before calling over his shoulder, “You do have that extra room set up, right?”

Of course he did, but…Carlisle stared at the little girl on the screen who suddenly seemed _so much smaller_.

She could not have been that small when she was thrashing around on the gurney, everything touching her skin feeling like burning coals. Resisting the urge to scream cause every sound thundered. Eyes tightly closed, but still too damn bright. No way to escape the putrid smells of the world.

But she was.

* * *

 

Sarah drummed her fingers on her steering wheel as she drove home from dropping Edythe’s bag at the Care Center. Everything in her screamed at her to stay, to help that poor, scared child who walked into her classroom that first day; the hardest part of being a teacher, Sarah was quickly learning, was knowing when you needed to stop.

Edythe would receive the care she needed and deserved with Dr. Cullen – a plenty nice man with evidently little experience with children (ironically, helpful, as trying to approach Edythe in any way resembling ways one would approach any other child caused her to pull farther away than Sarah previously thought possible of a second grader). She would be fine and Sarah sticking around the Care Center would only serve to jeopardize the little safety she and Billy finally gained.

Pulling up to her own home on the La Push reservation, Sarah climbed out of the car and headed to the door – the automated lights illuminating the way in the dark. She quietly opened the door and tried to sneak her way through the house, having called Billy earlier to let him know she would be home much later than usual, having been stuck driving to and from Port Angeles during rush hour traffic. However, as she placed her shoes in the closet, she heard the tell-tale sign of socked feet walking down the hall.

A small head peaked out from where the hall met the combined living room, kitchen and entrance way of the house. Jules, dressed in her green flannel pajamas, clutched tightly to Mr. Firefly.

Mr. Firefly looked like an ordinary teddy bear with brownish red fur and brown glass eyes with a green ribbon tied around his neck. The only thing to identify it as different was an irremovable “safety necklace” hidden by the ribbon that matched a bracelet to be worn by the bear’s owner – a pendant with a bright red and yellow starburst, the universal symbol for child sentinel. Sarah and Billy both winced at the price tag, the stuffed animal easily the most expensive thing bought for any of their children, but couldn’t stand the way Jules tried to play with her older sisters’ stuffed toys, only for her to be disappointed when her heightened senses ruined the experience. The only real concern was to remind Jules time and time again that the ribbon could _never ever_ come off in front of anyone outside the family – lest they begin asking questions as to why the Black family would buy a specialized toy for their normie daughter.

“Mama?” The five year old rubbed at her eyes.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Sarah whispered, her voice in that soft and quiet place that always amazed her when Jules actually responded. “What are you doing up so late?”

“I heard your car,” Jules yawned. “And you smell funny.” Her small nose scrunched up, “I don’t like it.”

“How about you go back to bed and I’ll go take a shower, super duper fast, toss my clothes into the wash and, if your still up, I’ll come tuck you in again?” Sarah asked, keeping her distance.

She shifted through the mental encyclopedia of Sentinel facts she and Billy memorized when Jules came online – though nothing could explain a _four-year old_ coming online _alone_ – until she remembered the way Jules reacted when Sarah came home from shadowing the teachers in the Sentinel Sensory Training Room at the Care Center, a couple months back when the school was considering building one themselves, until they realized the heightened risk of zones. Jules very nearly growled at Sarah until she showered and tried to destroy the jacket she wore that day, until it finally got washed.

Territorialism.

Jules, luckily, didn’t seem too disturbed this time, as she padded her way back to her room, Mr. Firefly still clung to tightly.

* * *

 

Renee didn’t realize how annoying Guides really were until Bella came online when she was six, almost seven. Being a guide herself, Renee felt permitted to say this.

When Renee herself first came online, pointing out people’s emotions just seemed natural and a way to cope with the new found power. Given, she had been _nine_ and knew what was _appropriate_ to say and what wasn’t. However, Bella, newly eight years old, still didn’t grasp what should be said in public and what should never be mentioned.

It was times like these that Renee almost wanted to give her to Charlie. The man desperately wanted Bella to live with him and it would give Renee the _freedom_ that caused her to leave Forks in the first place. Heavens knows what she was thinking when she took Bella.

She did take Bella, though, and that lead to the custody battle that ended with the judge ruling that, given Bella was a little girl and Renee a guide, Renee should be awarded greater custody. In layman’s terms, Renee won and giving Bella to Charlie would be losing.

Worse than losing, it would be admitting she couldn’t be the mother she thought she could – the one raising a child while still having a life and career.

The sound of sniffling pulled her out of her thoughts. With slight adjustment to the mirror, Renee could see Bella, still in her ballet clothes, sniffling in the backseat. She tried to push away her thoughts of how dramatic her daughter was being, but the girl seemed too caught up in her own emotions to read Renee’s anyway. The woman couldn’t fight the eyeroll when Bella wiped away an actual tear that had fallen.

Renee lost count the amount of times she told Bella to just _shut up_ about what other people were projecting. How many times they had to sit at the dining room table and practice putting up shields – or how many of _those_ times ended with Bella in tears and Renee ready to rip her hair out of her scalp.

“Since ballet is done,” because you had to go get yourself kicked out by not _shutting your mouth_ , “how about karate?” not even you could screw that up, right? Just one activity, to keep you busy, “Doesn’t that sound fun?” say yes, say yes, say yes.

“Yeah, mom,” Bella’s voice sounded choked. “Sounds fun.”

Maybe this one would be Bella’s _thing,_ fun enough to make her forget about being a guide altogether. Renee sighed at the thought – wouldn’t that be great.


	2. Home is Where...

Edythe wasn’t avoiding being at home – her best friend didn’t attend the same school, so of course she wanted to spend as much time with her outside of class as she could. Just because that roughly translated into rarely making it home to eat dinner with her “family” and spending most weekends camped out on the Black family’s living room couch did _not_ mean she acted that way to avoid being at home.

Being kept out of the house that now held not one, but _three_ bonded pairs of people Edythe didn’t care to understand, was just a coincidental benefit.

However, since she was decidedly not _actively_ avoiding being at home, she resented the implications of Rosalie’s text message most recent text:

_Esme wants to know if we’ll actually be graced with your presence at dinner today._

God. Edythe didn’t think she’d ever met such a bitchy guide before she met Rosalie; honestly, based solely on personality, one would think Emmet the guide and Rosalie the sentinel. Instead of replying to the text, she laid it on her chest, looking up at the slates of the garage roof from her place lying in the bed of the truck – Jules’ current fixation and a piece of junk that needed to run perfectly for Chief Charlie Swan’s daughter in less than three days.

“You doing okay?” Jules called from somewhere under the truck.

“Apparently, Esme wants to know if I’ll be home for dinner.” Edythe rubbed at her eyes – just the thought of sitting around the table with the lot of them sounded exhausting.

The sound of metal on metal from Jules’ tools on the underside of the truck stopped, only to be replaced by the squeaky wheels of the creeper as Jules rolled out from under it. Not long after, Jules appeared, arms crossed on the side of the truck’s bed.

“You need to talk to Carlisle.”

Edythe groaned, propping herself up on her elbows. “About _what_ exactly?”

“He cares about you, Eddy.”

“He let Alice move my stuff into the attic when she and Jasper bonded. He didn’t even bother to _call_ me.”  

A year later and it still stung. She had spent the week with her _real_ parents, a last-ditch attempt to convince the Care Center that her parents could provide a home safe for a Sentinel. It had been going great, until Edythe accidentally grabbed the wrong towel out of the cupboard. Only a light rash, but the Center decided it too much with her parents “previous transgressions”. Edythe returned to the Cullen household changed officially from an Extended Custody Case to a Permanent Ward, though they allowed her to retain the Mason name. All she wanted to do was go to her room and curl up on her bed, but no. If she concentrated, she could see Carlisle and Esme sitting together in the living room: Carlisle letting Esme explain the situation, not even looking Edythe in the eye.

_They need the space._

_The view will be so calming._

_We just knew you wouldn’t mind – you’re so considerate that way, Edythe._

Edythe didn’t get a word in until Esme dragged her to the attic to show her the new room, Carlisle not bothering to follow. Esme designed the attic in a way Edythe actually did like –  spacious, filled with music, and plenty of new windows installed – but she spent the first night in her new room clutching her old teddy bear and crying. She woke up the next day to welts up and down her arms and sadly placed the bear back on the shelf where she kept her other things that held precious memories, but mixed poorly with her enhanced senses.

Before Edythe had time to register the motion, Jules jumped into the bed of the truck, almost landing on top of Edythe – “Julie!”

“What?” Jules adjusted so that they were simply squished next to each other, “Look, we fit.”

“Some warning would be nice,” Edythe muttered, before bumping her shoulder lightly against Jules’.

“You were getting all emo again,” Jules shrugged. “I needed to protect you from your brain.”

“I was not getting ‘emo’.” Edythe rolled her eyes.

“Uhh, yes, you were,” Jules laughed. At Edythe’s lack of response, she sighed, before continuing soberly, “Missing your parents?”

“Carlisle said he didn’t want me seeing them until I graduate.” Edythe, decidedly not looking at Jules, began picking at the fabric of her skirt instead.

There was a good moment where Edythe could almost hear Jules counting in her head before responding in a controlled tone, “Really?”

Edythe nodded. “I asked him, because it’s been a while and we don’t have any plans for spring break.” She looked up from her skirt, looking out onto the driveway and where it ended to run into the rest of forest and down the road. “I know he never liked them, but I never thought he’d try to – to keep me from them.”

Without warning, like most things about Jules, Edythe was suddenly wrapped in a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m trying really hard to do that anger-management technique you taught me, so you have to settle as my teddy bear right now.” Edythe’s heart warmed slightly at Jules’ empathetic anger. “God. I wish Mom were here, she’d just drive you straight to your parents’ house and say we were going camping or some junk.”

Edythe chuckled at the absolutely true sentiment. The world lost a golden heart the day it took Ms. Black away in the car wreck that wheelchair-bound Billy. Selfishly, Edythe thanked the world for leaving Jules alone that day, though she was only nine years old and strapped in the back seat – the news wrote it a miracle that she survived. Edythe hugged Jules back tightly.

When Jules pulled away finally, a long strand of hair rested in front of her face, which Edythe gently pushed the strand behind the younger girl’s ear. A moment passed as the two stared at each other, something neither understood growing, before the intercom near the garage door began to buzz.

“Girls, Sue wants to know if Eddy’s staying for dinner. She’s bringing over Harry’s fish fry.”

Edythe felt her face warm as Jules broke the eye contact and cleared her throat. The heat previously flooding Edythe’s veins floated away.

“Are you staying?” Jules asked, a synthetic edge to her voice in an attempted mimic of her natural cheeriness.

Edythe shook her head, remembering the text, “No. Wish I could, but I think I need to get going this time.”

Jules pushed her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout, “Boo.”

Edythe rolled her eyes, sliding out of the truck through the back. “See you tomorrow, Jules.”

“What, you’re not going to say hi to the old man?” Jules called as Edythe walked to her car.

“I will _never_ leave if I do!”

“Yeah, that’s the point!” Jules yelled as Edythe got into the car.

Edythe waved before backing out of the driveway to head home, barely catching Jules’ returning wave. As she began the trip back, her phone buzzed with another text that made her bump her head against the steering wheel at the next stop sign.

            From Carlisle:

            _Come home soon, please. We need to talk._


	3. ...They Aren't.

Edythe wanted to scream as she sat in the large garage, drumming her fingers on the wheel. Once she pulled, there wasn’t a single empty spot. Damnit.

Screwing her courage, she undid her seat belt, grabbed her backpack and opened her car door before making her way inside the house. She closed the garage doors behind her and slipped her shoes off, placing them quietly into the closet. In socked feet, she headed for the back stairs – the ones that ended at the third floor next to Esme’s office and the door that led up to the attic. Hopefully, Esme would already be out of her office and in the kitchen preparing dinner; with so many bonded pairs living under one roof, Carlisle coughed up the cash to soundproof all the walls.

But with one foot on the first step, she sensed Carlisle behind her. Edythe froze, not turning around to face him.

“A response would have been nice, Edythe.”

Her shoulders fell slightly as she turned to lean against the wall with rigid limbs. She shrugged, every muscle moving mechanically to complete the action. “I was already driving. It’s not safe to text and drive.”

“Rosalie texted you earlier.” Carlisle raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

Edythe shrugged again, the movement still not appearing nearly as natural as it needed to pass off the nonchalance she wanted. “I was working on the truck with Jules.”

“The truck?” His eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah, the one she’s fixing up for Chief Swan’s daughter?” Edythe attempted to jog his memory. She was sure she’d mentioned it, couldn’t think of a reason she wouldn’t…

Carlisle lit up suddenly, “Rosalie’s really into cars, you know. You should take her by tomorrow, she might be able to help.”

Oh, yeah. _That_ was why.

“I don’t think Jules would go for it. She kind of wants to do it herself, you know.” Edythe didn’t know what was wrong with her answer, but based on Carlisle’s sudden dimming, it was more than a flimsy excuse to not hang out with Rosalie.

“You know what, come to my office,” Carlisle waved with his hand as he began to walk down the hall. “We need to talk.”

Edythe buried the urge to throw her head back and groan, bottling it away with a tight cork. Following Carlisle, she walked down the hall and through the large oak door, into his brilliant office. He gestured to one of the plush sofa chairs next to the dormant fire place, taking the opposing one once she sat down in it.

As she looked around idly, Carlisle rubbed at the chair’s arm. “You used to love sitting in here when you were younger. You would read or do homework while I worked.” He chuckled slightly, “Do you remember when we spent the whole night finishing your science project, right on the floor? Then, the next day, I drove you to school, and realized it was Sunday?”

Almost without her permission, Edythe smiled at the memory. Halfway through second grade, she’d began suffering from Shortened Day Syndrome (SDS) – a typical experience for young sentinels, the child becomes disoriented and can believe up to five days have passed within one due to the input of large amounts of information from their five heightened senses. The only true cure to the syndrome is bonding with a guide who could shield the sentinel’s mind or letting it run its course, as eventually the sentinel will reorient.

The weekend before her project was due, Edythe had been dragged all around town in the back of the car; Carlisle had decided to from a satellite branch of Port Angeles Area Care Center in Forks, leading to much stress for himself as well, particularly that weekend as he needed to convince at least a few nurses from the surrounding area to work in the Care Center for less pay, less prestige, and less thanks than the local hospital. When the two finally arrived back home, Edythe unbuckled herself, only to remember her project and almost had a meltdown as it was due _the next morning._

They spent the night on the office floor with the fire going: doing research, gluing pictures to a tri-fold board, and alternating between eating McDonalds and clumsily formed s’mores. It had been the first night Edythe could remember thinking living with Carlisle might not be _that_ bad.

“I remember Caius giving you hell about a grown sentinel still experiencing SDS.” Edythe never liked Caius or any of the specialists who worked at the center in Port Angeles. Then again, she didn’t like _any_ Care Center employee; Carlisle had his own opinions, though felt the centers worthwhile enough to start a one-man crusade to change them for the better.

They kind of worked. Except Edythe still knew more sentinels and guides _not_ registered to a center than were – not that she would ever tell Carlisle, since _technically_ that was illegal, especially in the case of Normie parent households.

“Yeah, yeah,” Carlisle sighed, then looked at Edythe in the way that demanded eye contact before he continued, “When do you think you stopped hanging out in here?”

Edythe shifted her eyes away as an uncomfortable weight settled next to her heart.

Being as young as she was, Edythe missed the signs when Carlisle started dating, but she figured it began sometime during third grade – the time when Ms. Black began taking her home after school, when she met Jules and became caught up in her first _real_ friendship, she couldn’t care less what Carlisle did while she played at the Black’s. She met Esme that summer, then a couple times during fourth grade – a nice woman, to an extent, but each meeting had Edythe more confused and withdrawn. Later, Edythe would recognize some of that hesitancy as a result of Esme seeming too familiar in what Edythe, at the time, considered in her sentinel brain _her and Carlisle’s_ territory. Edythe only really learned what was going on when Carlisle sat her down in the study and asked if she knew what bonding was, then went on to explain that he would be bonding with Esme over spring break. Edythe spent spring break with her parents and went home to the newly bonded Carlisle and Esme.

After that, whenever she experience SDS, Esme tried to orient her with her abilities and Carlisle seemed to completely forget what it felt like at all (Edythe asked for a watch that read both the date and time for her tenth birthday). Every decision that needed to be made – be it Edythe wanting to try out a new style of clothing to staying over at the Black’s house – suddenly came from both of them. Suddenly, going to the Black’s house afterschool wasn’t as fun anymore when she realized _why_ she was being sent there – especially when it grew to upwards four times  a week or overnight on a school night (completely forbidden if Edythe ever outright asked).

But God forbid Esme not be showered in praise when it was brought up that she bonded with a sentinel with a nine year-old custody case or ask what in the world Esme did to relate to Edythe. There was a sick pleasure Edythe gained at the latter times during dinner parties, when Esme always subconsciously glanced at Edythe and faltered just slightly.

“-dy? Edythe?” Edythe pulled herself out of her thoughts abruptly at Carlisle’s concern. “Are you alright? Should I get Esme?” He was already half-way out of his chair.

“I didn’t zone, Carlisle,” Edythe once again resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes. She shifted in her seat. “I dunno when I stopped. Guess I got comfortable in the house.”

“You being comfortable in the house is you never being in it?” Carlisle asked.

“I’m in the house right now.” Edythe could hit herself for the awful comeback.

In a move she hadn’t seen since she was nine, Carlisle left his chair to kneel in front of hers, his hands on her knees to secure her attention. “Edythe, I have watched you grow up since you were just seven years old and I like to think we’ve made the most out of not great circumstances. Esme thinks this is just how you are or its you being a teenager, but something’s changed. Maybe I should be considering myself lucky that you aren’t running around being an adrenaline junkie or worse, that you are always at least outwardly respectful to Esme and myself. But I never see you anymore and I miss that.”

A lump formed, low in Edythe’s throat, but when she went to respond, a knock at the door drew away both of their attentions: Carlisle’s first and then Edythe’s reluctantly. He stood up as the door began to open, already making his way towards his bonded while Edythe remained seated.

Smiling cheerfully, Esme stood in the doorway, “Dinner’s ready!”

And Edythe wanted to scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment!!!!!!!


	4. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> introducing: Bella Swan!

Edythe swore she could hear the orange monster of a truck from six miles away – which meant sitting in the cab of it was nothing short of excruciating, even while wearing her noise-cancelling headphones. Finally, Jules pulled the car into the driveway of the Swan residence.

“Was there _nothing_ you could do about how loud this damn thing is?” Edythe grumbled as she shut the truck door behind her, pulling her large headphones down around her neck. Going around the truck, she helped Jules get Billy into his wheelchair.

“No,” Jules sighed rubbing the hood lovingly. “If I could, I’d keep her for myself.” She gestured at her own headphones, “I swear to God I nearly went into zone the first time I started the thing.”

“That’s your own damn fault – how many times have I told you to put those things on when you’re around unfamiliar machinery?” Billy grouched as he shifted into his chair.

Before Jules could respond, the front door opened, with Charlie Swan leading a brown haired girl to the truck.

For an instant, the girl captivated Edythe, like fireworks in a dark night sky.

Then – nothing.

* * *

 

Jules had been helping her father adjust his jacket when she noticed Edythe begin to crumple to the ground. With lightning reflexes, she grabbed Edythe before she hit the concrete.

“Eddy?” Jules knelt to the ground, laying Edythe down slightly. She lightly patted Edythe’s cheek, hoping for any reaction. “Oh, Christ, Eddy!”

“My dad ran inside to grab the cruiser’s keys,” an enchanting voice said before Bella knelt next to Jules. “Do you know what happened?”

Jules’ tongue suddenly felt too thick to form words and her mind too clouded to even think of any as she sat back on her heels, hands falling from Edythe’s body. She just _stared_. The wavy hair, the chocolate eyes – the strawberry scent smelt heavenly on its own, but, this close to Edythe, mixed with her distinct scent of an old, but up-kept library – long story short, Jules found a scent she wanted to distill in a candle and burn in her room forever.

So lost in the amazingness that was both Edythe and Bella, her attention was only captured when Bella put one pale hand on her bare arm – the other near Edythe’s neck, once searching for a pulse, but now resting.

“Oh,” Bella laughed, a light and airy sound that soothed the dull ache left from the car ride. A smile, small yet incredibly pleased, graced her face. Jules felt as if she would do anything to keep that little smile on her face. “Wow, um…Oh, no.”

The smile fell and immediately Jules’ heart dropped. No, no, no, where did it go? Why did it go? The strawberry scent soured slightly, Bella’s heart rate increased, and the sentinel aggression Jules worked to keep locked down began to spike, searching for a stressor to annihilate, reinforcing her already heightened senses.

Bella’s hand moved from Jules’ arm, which did _not_ help the aggression thing – until it landed on Edythe and Jules violently remembered her _best friend_ laying on the ground _unconscious._ Her best friend who had never smelt better than that very second, causing a confusing competition between strawberries and libraries, until Jules decided that they were both amazing and needed to be protected forever. The aggression came back worse.

“Her-Her name’s Eddy, right?” Bella asked, looking at Jules, who just nodded. With a deep breath, Bella nodded – not necessarily towards anyone but herself – as she focused on Edythe. She moved one hand to cup Edythe’s head, thumb brushing her hairline in slow circles, while her other hand rested at Edythe’s collar bone, rubbing the same pattern there. “Eddy, I need you to listen to me, okay?”

Jules’ fingers twitched in frustration. She could almost _feel_ Charlie, standing on the stoop, and _could_ hear the keys in his hands.

Why weren’t they piling into the cruiser already, driving Edythe to the hospital? Why were they just _standing here_? What did Bella think she was _doing?!_

“ _Listen_ , Eddy,” Bella’s voice became firmer and she stopped the circles, instead pressing into the skin.

How could someone _listen_ when they were _unconscious_?!

But Jules didn’t move, or speak, or even look away from Edythe and Bella. Even when the pads of Bella’s fingers turned white, she didn’t speak against the rosy color forming underneath those fingers.

“Breathe,” Bella instructed and, on command, Edythe’s chest rose. Her eyes remained closed even as her chest fell again. Bella’s fingers began to press in and let go at regular intervals, Edythe’s breathing following those pulses.

Jules only then noticed the difference between the now level breathing and the previous shallow, near hyperventilating breaths of previous.

“Good girl,” Bella said, lowering her voice for none but Jules to hear. “That’s very good. All right, pretty girl, open your eyes for me, _slowly_.”

Edythe’s eyes fluttered open. Bella smiled again. Jules felt calm.

* * *

 

Edythe awoke to two sets of brown eyes staring at her. It wasn’t as alarming as she would’ve thought it would be, if she had thought of the situation previously (which she hadn’t). She instantly recognized Jules’ near black ones, but the lighter pair confused her. It wasn’t a bad confusion, though. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time she felt more at peace. Certainly not in recent memory, at least.

“Hi,” She said.

Jules laughed, as watery as her eyes suddenly became, even as the other girl relaxed and smiled a little wider.

“ _Hi?!_ That’s all you can say,” Jules sounded happy, but Edythe knew Jules a little better than that. “You realize you just passed out, right?”

Yeah, she had figured that out from her lying on concrete instead of on the Black’s couch or even, as rare as it seemed to be becoming, her bed. As she went to sit up, however, mystery girl jumped into action.

“No, no, lay back,” She said, pushing Edythe’s shoulder back.

Edythe had no problem obeying a girl as gorgeous as mystery girl, but as she laid back down a raindrop landed uncomfortably on her forehead.

“It’s getting ready to storm, Bella,” Billy said from his chair only a few feet away.

The man didn’t surprise Edythe, but both mystery girl – Bella, Charlie’s daughter, right – and Jules stiffened as if he surprised _them._ Which didn’t make much sense, considering _they’d_ been awake the whole time (at least, Edythe assumed).

“I can carry her inside.” Already in action, Jules didn’t give Edythe time to protest as one arm went under her knees and the other around her back. Edythe’s own arms went around Jules’ neck, resulting in her being cradled to Jules’ chest. That unfamiliar feeling from the few days prior, when they sat in the bed of the truck, returned and Edythe felt warm all over, especially as she became hyper aware of Charlie and Billy nearby. She noted that Bella’s presence was, not only accepted, but desired in a way. Curious.

Bella lead the way into the house, Charlie passing them, assumedly to help Billy. Once inside, they filed into the living room where Jules sat down on the couch, laying Edythe next to herself, letting the older girl use her as a way to prop herself up without strain. Bella stood, close, but too far for Edythe’s comfort, especially when the two men came in the room as well. Also curious.

Obviously Jules felt the same way, if the barely suppressed whine Edythe heard from deep within her chest had anything to say about it. But when Edythe looked at Bella, trying to find a non-creepy way to ask her to come closer, she ducked her eyes and moved just a bit further away, arms wrapping around herself.

“Is someone gonna explain to me what just happened?” Billy finally asked as the five sat in silence.

Bella’s eyes flitted to Edythe, as if she wasn’t sure what to say, what she could say, until, glancing at Jules, then Charlie, said, “Eddy was given suppressors as a child. Please say this is not surprising news to anyone here.”

Jules tensed under Edythe’s cheek, but Edythe just snorted slightly at the worried statement.

“No, we all knew that, Bells,” Charlie assured his daughter. “She’s a ward of the Cullen family, you met Carlisle the other day when I took you to register.” An eyebrow raised, “But how did you know that?”

Bella sighed, biting at her lower lip and closing her eyes before blurting out, “Sentinels who have been given suppressors as children have problems bonding later in life even at the most basic levels.”

Oh. Edythe prodded at her _curious_ feelings. Poked at them, followed them.

 _Bonding_. Yes, that did make sense actually. Her, Bella, Jules; she could just barely feel their presence at the very edges of her mind, caused by the ever illusive imprint bond. Only seen in children and adolescents, the imprint bond formed when a guide and sentinel (or however many of each there maybe, the largest recorded configuration in the United States being three guides and four sentinels) came online at the same time.

Wait…

“I don’t know about you, Bella, but I’ve been online for years now,” Jules said, shaking her head. “And I think I’d remember doing any sort of bonding ritual with you.”

Bella ducked her head lower. Edythe smelt the salt that caused Jules’ grip to tighten as Bella hugged herself tighter. “I didn’t think I’d find you so soon.”

… _what_.

“Bella,” Charlie’s voice sounded harder than Edythe ever heard it, even than when he ‘escorted’ Alice and Emmett home after the two got caught drinking behind the gym. “What are you talking about?”

Bella looked at Edythe and Jules, not sobbing, but a few tears already running down her cheeks. “I’m _so sorry_.”

Edythe couldn’t for the life of her understand why a girl she had never met in her life would be apologizing. And, apparently, neither could Jules.

“Why the hell are you apologizing?” Jules demanded. “And how the hell do you know we have a bond?!”

“Jules,” Edythe cut off the rant she could feel building in Jules. “You have to feel it, too.”

“Well, _yes,_ I feel _something_ , but there’s science behind this!” Jules stood up suddenly, sending Edythe almost falling onto the couch before she adjusted herself to an upright position with the cushions assistance. “And I know I don’t know nearly as much as I’m probably supposed to,” Edythe winced, avoiding looking at Billy’s face at the near obvious shot, “But I know as well as anybody that _imprint bonds_ happen when you come online!” Jules finally stopped her pacing to look at Bella, “And I’ve never even met you before!”

“We celebrated fourth of July the last time I came to visit, remember, dad?” Bella looked at Charlie, as if begging him to remember. “Mom came because she didn’t want to spend a holiday without me?”

“What does this-”

“ _Dad!_ ”

“Okay, okay!” Charlie put his hands in the air, “I remember. We went to watch the fireworks at the…park.” His voice dwindled off as he looked at Billy, whose eyes grew very large very quickly. “We didn’t stay long into them though because…you kept…”

Fireworks.

Edythe couldn’t remember much from when she came online, but she remembered fireworks.

She remembered too bright colors and too loud noises and her dad scooping her up and _running_ to their car with her mom on their heels.

“You kept running off. And your mom was getting so mad, but you kept running. When we finally got you in the car and drove off, you burst into tears,” Charlie finished his story staring at Billy. He turned back to Bella, “Oh, _sweetie_.”

“No,” Jules shook her head. “No way. Charlie, you’re a sentinel, you would have _had_ to notice! It’s just a coincidence.”

Billy shook his head, “You came online the same night. I didn’t tell Charlie you were a sentinel until after your mother…”

Jules turned to Edythe, but Edythe just shrugged, “My parents never understood much about any of this, Julie.”

At this, Jules fell quiet, staring at her feet with her arms crossed. She didn’t look up when she asked, “How long have you known?”

Bella seemed a bit surprised at being addressed, “What?”

Jules fixed her stare on Bella and Edythe fought the desire to stand up, to be between them, mediating the anger between two people her instincts demanded she protect with all her might – especially with Jules’ angry hurt and Bella’s confusing vulnerability. Even the thought of actually standing, with her mind clearer now than it was outside, felt too exhausting. This whole conversation felt too exhausting.

“How long have you known?”

“A while.” Bella struggled to form words, “I think – in a way – I always knew. These bonds are always stronger on the guide’s side. We’re supposed to… _guide_ our sentinels to us.” She paused, hands shifting nervously in front of her. “But my mom said that the bond I felt wasn’t real. That it formed because I came online too young and, when I was older, I could form a real bond.” At this, Charlie took a sharp intake of breath that attracted Edythe’s attention to his clenched fists and barely contained shaking. “I-I didn’t _know_ until I was looking through some old photos.” Bella smiled, small and shaky but a smile. “It was of my mom and me and, in the background, I saw _you_ ,” Bella turned her attention to Edythe, “and I remembered being able to sense you from the moment we got to the park. But I was introduced to you first,” Bella shifted to Jules. “I don’t know if we all actually met or if me being able to feel both of you was enough, but that was when we bonded. You started crying and your parents took you home, but I knew I couldn’t let you leave, but then you _were_ gone, so I needed to get to Eddy and…well, that’s it, I guess.”

“But…” Jules seemed as tired as Edythe felt. “Renee, wouldn’t she have felt it?”

Bella nodded, “I asked my mom about the whole thing and she said what she always said. When I tried to push back,” Bella gestured around her, at the walls and the floor, at the whole house in general, “she said I could come back to Forks and be trapped like she was or drop the whole thing entirely.”

“You _should’ve_ just dropped the whole thing entirely.”


	5. Something Old and Something New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not that many people are reading this - obviously - but I'm kind of shocked anyone is reading this??? it's a fic of a rewrite of a book popular ten years ago with an incredibly niche AU, I really only started writing it for me as a low-stakes way of starting to write Sentinel/Guide stuff (also why it took so long to update, I kind of forgot that I'd published it in the first place). This is a total passion project for me and one thats probably closer to Original fiction than Fanfiction in most ways. But people are bookmarking it and subscribing to it, actually reading it?! GUYS you warm my little heart!! Anyway! Enjoy this next chapter!

“ _Jules_!” Edythe exclaimed from where she sat on the couch.

Jules didn’t care, though, even as she watched Bella recoil, as if the words physically hurt her. That was the thing about their bond configuration, Jules guessed, she wanted – _needed_ – to protect Edythe, even if it was from their guide ( _their guide_ , Jules loved the idea of sharing a guide with Edythe, even if she had never let the thought sit for too long in her mind – if only it wasn’t _this_ complicated).

“That was completely uncalled for!” Edythe went to stand, probably to put herself between Jules and Bella, but Jules growled at her, cementing Edythe in her seat (the small part of her, the one reveling in the mere thought of _their guide,_ felt a little pleasure at the clear submission from the other sentinel, _that_ would be returned to _much later_ ). “Seriously?” Edythe’s voice sounded much more akin to her normal deadpan.

“Do you realize what this means for your parents, Eddy?” Jules said, turning away from Bella to look at Edythe. From the look on her face, Jules guessed that Edythe hadn’t thought too long about that question yet, but Jules _had_. “You’re both registered at Centers! Not to mention, you’re a ward! There’s no way you’re gonna be able to hide this from Carlisle.” Jules turned back to Bella, “Her parents have been to court, what, six times?” Jules looked back for Edythe to nod in confirmation. “Six times, about the fact that they gave her suppressors when she was younger. What do you thinks going to happen to them when you register your bond? When they test you and realize you have an _imprint_ bond?! Do you think they’re gonna blame the sentinel and guide parents? Or the normies with a track record?”

“How the hell was I supposed to be able to know that?” Bella demanded, face scrunching in anger. “I didn’t know anything about either of you! We bonded over ten years ago, all I knew was that the last place I met you was in Forks and I was hoping to God I’d still be able to find you!”

Jules’ felt her vision focusing on Bella, but it lacked the rosy feel; no, it felt cold and hard and all she could focus on besides that was the sickly feel from Edythe’s side of the… _bond_ and Bella being the cause. She’d spent too much of her life protecting Edythe from people who meant well, she could easily add Bella to that list.

“You two calm down, now!” Charlie yelled, pushing himself between them and away from each other. Jules almost snapped at him, but pulled back, knowing she wouldn’t win that fight. Maybe in a few years, but not now.

A hand slipped into Jules’, tugging her away. Turning, Jules saw Edythe had gotten up, despite her weak, tired appearance, and was pulling her towards the other side of the room. They stopped at the wall, Bella and Charlie at the opposite.

Edythe crossed her arms, not glaring at Jules but fixing her with her patented you’re-being-an-idiot-why-do-I-deal-with-you stare. “You’re being exceedingly unfair to Bella.”

“No, I’m not!”

The stare lessened and Edythe smiled slightly, “It’s sweet of you to defend my parents like that, but it’s been well-documented that my parents don’t understand Sensitives enough to interrupt an imprint bond like that.”

Jules stayed quiet for a moment, looking over to where Bella and Charlie stood, hugging, Bella nearly engulfed in the larger man and shaking slightly. She couldn’t feel bad for causing those tears, though.

“Carlisle’s _never_ going to let you see your parents.”

Edythe looked at Jules for a moment, as if she couldn’t believe that was what Jules had to say, “Jules…what about _your_ dad?”

She cocked her head to the side, confused by what Edythe meant. “What do you mean?”

Her dad had long since wheeled himself into the kitchen (though Jules couldn’t remember exactly when that happened – probably when he realized this was deeper into the Sensitive Community than he could ever understand). She could hear him, clear as day, sipping a beer and flipping through one of Charlie’s hunting magazines.

“You’re a part of this bond, too, and you aren’t registered,” Edythe reminded.

Jules shrugged, “So?”

Edythe blinked, “We need to register the bond. You said it yourself, I don’t have a chance in hell keeping it from Carlisle.”

Oh, shit.

Her _dad,_ her _wheelchair bound_ dad! It had been years since Jules worried about being caught, years spent on the Res with people who knew and were going through the same thing, that she never really thought of the ramifications about if she were caught. Ever since the car accident, it seemed like a distant worry, a childhood nightmare that couldn’t touch her when she had so many other responsibilities. Care Centers and Sensitive Training and Rules were apart of _Edythe’s_ life, a life Edythe tried every day to run as far away from as possibly, they never touched Jules.

But this?

“-les, focus.”

Focus? She _was_ focusing, focusing on how her whole world was crashing around her ears.

“No, focus on _me_.”

On what? On strawberries? Would strawberries save her dad from _prison_?! Oh, God, her dad was gonna go to _prison_!

“On Eddy, Jules, Eddy. Come on, you can do it.”

A familiar cold hand grabbed her own.

Eddy. Edythe. Yes, Edythe understood what was happening; strawberries didn’t, but there was a small part of her that thought maybe strawberries – _Bella_ – could. If they talked. If they tried.

But Jules didn’t want to try, Jules didn’t want anything to change. She wanted to go back to three days ago, when her biggest worries involved how bitchy Rosalie would be and how overwhelmed Edythe would feel from Esme’s…Esme-ing.

That wasn’t a choice though, was it? Because here they were and here Bella was and it wasn’t three days ago- _and she was fucking zoning, wasn’t she?_

Jules came back to the world violently, stumbling out of her stiff posture and grabbing onto the first stable person she felt – luckily, not the still too-pale Edythe, who pulled her hand away quickly, but Bella, strong and sturdy and ready to hold her up.

“Sorry,” Jules gruffed, realizing that now Bella had pulled both her and Edythe from zones/zone-like-states in less than an hour. Not exactly pleasant for any Guide.

“It’s fine, expected, even. There’s a lot going on right now,” Bella’s hands hovered around Jules. From over Bella’s shoulder, Jules saw Edythe looking pointedly at her.

“It isn’t actually your fault,” Jules admitted begrudgingly, “You obviously couldn’t have known, I think I’m just a bit worked up right now.”

“This isn’t exactly the perfect situation,” Edythe said, closing the distance previously created in her attempt to not block Bella’s access to Jules. Her voice softened as she looked at the two, focusing her attention on Bella after a second, “But…I am glad you found us. Even if we didn’t know we were lost.”

Bella rolled her eyes fondly, shaking her head, “You Sentinels _never_ know when your lost.”

A distant part of Jules said she should be annoyed at that comment – who was Bella to make jokes like that? Sentinels struggled day-in and day-out, controlling themselves, controlling the world around them, and putting their own sanity at risk for the comfort of others. A much larger part reveled in the humor that slotted in so nicely with Edythe’s and her own, warmed at the ease with which Bella seemed to fit, and loved the tiny chuckle that escaped Edythe.

“ _That_ is an astute observation,” Edythe agreed as she looked around the room suddenly, “Which begs the question, where the hell did your dad and Billy go?”

Jules suddenly noticed the lack of heartbeats in the house that differed from the synchronized thumping of her own, Edythe’s and Bella’s. Where did they go indeed? She extended her hearing a little farther, the yard, perhaps? No, not there – her vision blurred slightly, but the second that happened, she felt a small tap-tap-tapping on her shoulder.

“They aren’t in danger, Jules, no need to search,” Bella said as Jules collected herself once again, a bit aggravated at herself – she knew better than that! She rarely ever zoned, never put herself in a situation that would cause that (outside of her garage, at least), but zoning didn’t seem that scary right now, not the life-threatening terror it used to be.

“Where are they, then?” Edythe asked, “I didn’t even see Charlie leave the room.”

“My dad’s taking Billy to the diner, give us some space for a little while,” Bella explained, hand resting flat on Jules’ shoulder while she looked at Edythe. “We’ve got a lot to figure out.”

Yeah, _that_ was an understatement.

* * *

 

Bella lead Jules and Eddy into the kitchen where Charlie – _Dad_ , she thought forcefully, _my_ dad – kept a small round table with just enough chairs for the three of them. As an unbonded Sentinel, the whole kitchen was done in the palest of yellows and creams, colors too soft and bland to cause a zone, a welcome thought with how untethered Jules felt. Bella tugged gently on the ribbon that connected her to Eddy, too softly for the sentinel to notice; her mind felt much more grounded. Good.

Jules and Eddy sat at the table while Bella went to grab a pitcher of water and some glasses, giving herself a moment to calm in the mindless actions.

Jules and Eddy. Her sentinels. Bella couldn’t help feeling giddy at the thought. _Her sentinels_.

She placed the pitcher in the center of the table and sat down after pouring herself a glass.

“Help yourselves,” she gestured. “It’s distilled.”

Eddy smiled and gave a small thanks before pouring a glass; Jules simply sat, hands folded on top of the table. Bella resisted the urge to bite her lip. Jules didn’t want water, but did she want anything else to drink? Was she hungry? Was she about to zone again?

Bella resisted the urge to prod at Jules’ turbulent mind. What if Jules expected her to, though? She’d meant what she had said before, she didn’t think she would find them so quickly. She was supposed to have _time_ : time to go take classes she had “passed” back in Phoenix (Cullen _was_ known for recruiting the best Guide teachers in the country, it wouldn’t have seemed _too_ weird to want to take “refresher” courses at his Center), time to attempt to strengthen the bonds she felt wisps of in the back of her head, time to broach the subject with Char- _Dad_. Just…time.

Her sentinels were here _now_ though. Sitting with her, ready to figure out what to do next.

“So…” Bella tried to smile and hoped it didn’t come off as completely plastic or disturbing.

“We need to register the bond,” Eddy said, taking the burden of starting the conversation.

“And how exactly do you propose we do that, _Edythe_?” Jules didn’t snap exactly, but she was very clearly displeased by Edythe’s (Eddy’s a nickname, Bella realized) statement. “You’re the one who brought up-”

“I wasn’t including you in that statement, Jules,” Edythe interrupted.

Bella thought that the younger girl would get offended, as hot-headed as she seemed, but Edythe simply slid a hand over the table to place over Jules’ folded ones.

Edythe’s attention shifted to Bella, who automatically sat up just a bit straighter, “ _We_ , as in Bella and I, need to register the bond.” She focused back on Jules. “I know the tests they do, Jules. If we go in on our own terms, they’ll only run one test and that test will only tell them if Bella and I are bonded. If we try to hide it, though, they’ll do a full blood work up and realize that we have a three-point bond.” Her voice went a little lower as she leaned towards Jules, “I will do _anything_ to make sure you and your dad never have to go through what I did.”

A slight blush crept up Jules’ cheeks, mostly hidden by her darker skin. Bella relished in the calmer though still jumbled emotions she could feel from Jules ( _embarrassmentcaretrust)_ , while stayed Edythe a constant stream of protect and calm.

“I know you will,” Jules whispered.

Bella felt her heart swell. She had been worried before, that her sentinels wouldn’t get along well, or that they would fight constantly, herself the only reason they stayed together, but they clearly cared deeply about one another. Bella particularly enjoyed the strong bond she could feel between the two girls, nurtured by years of friendship and the beginnings of something deeper. Her mother would have used that as proof of why Bella should cut her losses now, how could she compete with a bond like that?

A _good_ guide knows bonds aren’t something to compete over.

And Bella was going to be a good guide.


	6. Sour Clans

Watching Jules walk through the doors of the diner to Charlie and Billy’s table did not sit well with Edythe. The separation itched her skin and turned her stomach; she wanted _needed_ Jules back in the truck, right next to her, squishing her against Bella in the front seat of the tiny cab. Edythe kept watching as Jules sat down and began talking.

She could hear if she stretched her hearing, just a little-

Bella’s hand suddenly found its resting place on Edythe’s thigh.

“The car’s still running, Eddy,” Bella reminded. “And I really don’t have the energy to pull you out of another zone.”

“Sorry,” Edythe tore her gaze away from the table in the window, focusing on the carpet under her feet.

“No, it’s okay!” The words somersaulted over each other. “It’s just a bit more difficult than I expected, without a full-bond in place and everything.”

Edythe tried to suppress her instinct to shudder at the mention of a full-bond.

Bella noticed anyway. Edythe could practically feel the questions radiating off the girl, but she simply threw the car into reverse and started the car towards the center. It didn’t take long, Forks as small as it is, to get there; the ride alone still felt heavy and strange, especially without Jules. Bella parked the car close to the doors and Edythe hopped out first, making it to the other side of the car just as Bella opened the door to climb out herself.

As they headed in, Edythe sighed, “I’m gonna apologize now.”

Bella blinked, “For…what?”

“For this.” Edythe opened the door.

Immediately, she felt the assaulting presences of the Cullen Clan’s guides. Rosalie, immediately suspicious, began poking around her shields, trying to slip through and catch a glimpse of what could force Edythe to enter the center when not legally obligated. Jasper, always more subtle and less intrusive, gravitated to her emotions, trying to get a clearer view. Then, there was Esme. Edythe went to reinforce her shields, but, before she could, she felt Bella’s presence.

Bella’s _angry_ presence.

With a forceful push, Bella expelled the guides from Edythe’s mind, throwing up shields of a strength Edythe had never had the slightest chance of making. But on top of those shields, she threw more and more, growing both a fortress and labyrinth around Edythe’s mind, clearly communicating to those uninvited to stay the hell out and away.

_Shit._

“You didn’t need to do that,” Edythe whispered quickly as they made their way to reception.

She was thankful for the short line that prevented them from entering the actual center: a little extra time before being confronted by the Cullens she could already hear gathered just beyond the frosted glass doors.

“You were clearly uncomfortable with them being there,” Bella responded, teeth near being gritted. “They were being rude, anyway. They didn’t ask and you didn’t invite them.”

The line moved up so that they were next

“They’re my clan members.”

The line moved again. As they walked to the counter, Bella simply gave her an odd look:   
“That doesn’t matter.”

The reception lady, a woman who knew Edythe well enough, tried to simply wave them through. Bella looked at her and Edythe swallowed the anxiety building in her throat. The woman thought she just needed to see Carlisle, but they needed to see a Specialist.

Which meant saying why they needed a specialist.

“We’re here to register a bond,” Edythe blurted out as quickly as she could muster the courage.

The woman stopped her incessant typing and looked at Edythe with large eyes.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, looking between Edythe and Bella. “Oh, of course! I’ll notify your dad right away!” Her smile grew large, even as Edythe winced at the idea of Carlisle being known as her dad. She quickly typed away and Edythe could hear his pager beep from behind the doors.  “This is so exciting, oh my goodness!” The woman stood up and practically threw herself over the counter to wrap her arms around Edythe’s neck. Edythe shoved down the urge to flinch. Bella looked even more annoyed than she had before. The woman pulled away, still smiling. “Carlisle’s going to be so happy! I know he and Esme have been worried about you, still not being bonded and all!”

 _Greeeaaaat._ There was a difference between knowing they talked about her behind her back and being confronted with the undeniable evidence of it.

“Just go right on in!” The woman smiled brightly.

Edythe smiled back and headed towards the doors, Bella not even a full step behind her. The doors closed behind them and Edythe felt her stomach in her toes as she was faced with the full force of her clan. She hadn’t even let herself ponder the fantasy of being able to have a painless registration process; she just hoped it wouldn’t scare Bella too far away…

Bella slipped her hand into Edythe’s and squeezed, smiling brightly when Edythe turned to her in surprise.

Edythe squeezed her hand back.

* * *

 

Bella had very little experience with clans. She understood what they were, of course – regional groupings of Sensitives that mimicked family dynamics. Her mother being the person she was, however, meant that Bella had never been a part of one and was kept far away from them.

She did, however, know that even within clans you extended courtesy and civility to your clan members – i.e. not looking for weak spots in their shields, _especially uninvited_. The younger two guides, at least, only looked for surface information; they were also clearly on the same hierarchical level as Edythe (they were supposed to be like siblings, but the only emotion she could find on Edythe’s part was indifference, annoyance, and, worryingly in both the existence and way it was shoved towards the deepest recesses of her mind, fear; Bella _wasn’t invited,_ so she couldn’t go see what the two felt for Edythe). The older guide though…

On a surface level, it seemed motherly, like the guide was simply cradling Edythe’s shields, maybe even buffing them herself. But Bella knew that technique and could not imagine the kind of person who could justify stripping away layers of a sentinel’s shields, especially a sentinel as young and powerful as Edythe.

Not to mention, the anger Bella felt coming from the guides now as they stood in front of Edythe and herself, as if they had every right to be in Edythe’s mind the way they were. The fact that they were lying in wait the second Edythe walked through the doors with a guide they had never met – clearly an already intense situation for a young sentinel – rubbed Bella the wrong way further.

So, yeah, Bella had very little experience with clans, but she didn’t like this one (she did like the way Edythe squeezed her hand back).

“Hello.” Bella _did not_ like that sound either.

Edythe had a deadpan voice, sure, monotone and soft. It didn’t change much as she moved over the different words, but there was still life. Her words held meaning, to both herself and the listener. Bella had only known the girl a few hours, but she could very clearly see the difference between that voice and the robotic, emotionless tone used now.

Her clan didn’t seem to notice.

“Aren’t you gonna introduce us, Eddy?” One of the teenagers – a blonde girl – sneered.

Bella felt Edythe, once again, suppress her urge to flinch. How was _this_ a clan? How was this the famous _Cullen Clan?_

“This is Bella Swan,” Edythe introduced, then quickly ran through the other’s names, pointing them out and their bonds in the traditional guide-then-sentinel fashion- Rosalie and Emmett, Jasper and Alice, Esme and Carlisle. “She’s…my guide.”

And what an awful thought that this was the first time that Edythe said those words (Bella still liked the sound of it; would love it more if Jules were there).

“Bella _Swan_?” Rosalie sneered again. “Didn’t she just move here?”

“How did you manage to bond so quickly?” Alice asked. Bella comforted herself with the kind emotions Alice projected, the softness that seemed to encase both the girl and her partner. “You always said you needed to be sure.”

Edythe took a deep breath, clearly trying to center herself, and Bella casually put her shoulder in front of Edythe. It wasn’t much, but even the slim barrier between Edythe and her “clan” calmed the girl ( _not. good)._

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Edythe said.

A long silence followed.

“We’re listening, Edythe,” Esme said, looking at Edythe expectantly.

Bella felt her eyebrows shoot to her hairline, but, where she expected some sort of push back from the _very clearly uncomfortable_ girl, Edythe felt resigned.

All right then.

“I don’t think this is the place for that discussion,” Bella said, eyeing the “clan” (they did not deserve that title, not in regards to Edythe). “As you can imagine, it’s already been a bit of a taxing day, but its protocol to register as soon as possible.”

“Edythe, doesn’t mind, do you, dear?” Esme didn’t ask the question. She just expected.

Because she was going to force it, Bella realized. Esme was a smart one, she’d give the older woman that much. Bella was not a full grown guide – guides didn’t reach maturity until their early twenties, with sentinels a few years later. She could do her best, but her shields would not be able to passively keep out a full-grown guide partnered to a Head of Clan sentinel. In Bella’s distraction, Esme tried to slip in, specifically behind the shields protecting Edythe’s decision-making.

Forgoing subtly or any sort of politeness, saying _fuck it_ to good impressions, Bella forcefully – and loudly if the way every guide in the vicinity turned to look at both Esme and Bella in shock – pushed Esme out, out, out of Edythe’s mind and further into Carlisle’s where she _belonged_.

“I think she does mind, actually,” Bella said, not even faking a smile; she was way too tired to put up with any of this.

In the back of her mind, she could feel concern creeping over from Jules, probably a reaction to the sudden exhaustion sweeping through the three of them. Bella looked over, happy to see Edythe still her normal color as opposed to the deathly pale she’d looked earlier. Though, she did look as if she needed a nice bed and a long time left alone. At Bella’s glance, Edythe smiled and mouthed _thanks,_ before leaning her forehead on the back of Bella’s shoulder, inhaling deeply.

“Well,” Carlisle finally spoke up for the first time, looking at Edythe as if he’d never seen the girl before. Or like he hadn’t seen her in a long time, Bella revised, a long, long time. “I guess you two really are bonded.”


	7. The Bonding Thing

Rebecca and Rachel used to tease Jules’ endlessly, back when they were just kids, too young to understand difference in the world, before they realized the true dangers of sensitivity. Rebecca loved to hide Jules’ teddy bear in places she couldn’t reach or simply couldn’t go, like the top shelf of the pantry or under her bed. Rachel always poked fun at the way their mom slathered sunscreen on Jules before going to the beach, when the twins only needed a light coating. As they got older and they realized what discovery would mean, they stopped – they loved their baby sister, after all, they didn’t want her taken away, especially after the accident that took their mom.

They didn’t actually stop, though, more so changed direction.

Asking when Jules’ was going to ask Edythe to marry her.

Daring her to kiss Edythe whenever the two got roped into games of truth or dare (causing Edythe to turn into a tomato, stammering as she ran off to go read with “Mr. Billy” as she insisted on calling him for years).

Always in good fun, no one really addressed the fact that they were both girls (and, at the time, none of the girls knew enough to understand that, to some, _that_ was strange). The other Res kids joked the same way, even after the twins _left._

Then, they got older.

The first time her dad asked was the morning after Jules’ thirteenth birthday, when she walked into the kitchen after tucking her quilts around a still sleeping Edythe. He didn’t stutter or falter in anyway, but he didn’t necessarily look her in the eye either: “Is Edythe your girlfriend?”

Jules stared at him, stunned, realizing the sincerity in his question and she quickly said no, just best friends. He almost seemed disappointed at that answer.

The next year, she stumbled over a prepared coming-out speech, just her, her dad, and Edythe, sitting at the kitchen counter at near midnight. When she was done, her dad reached over and told her how much he loved her (Edythe came out half-an-hour later when they were watching Jeopardy and started crying almost immediately; Jules never asked if she came out to her ‘clan’). That next morning, her dad asked if Edythe and her were dating.

She said no.

It became a recurring question after that – not too often and never in public, but her dad seemed expectant. Like one day that would change.

Sitting in the diner, looking at his smug face reading a menu he memorized fifteen years prior, she guessed his expected day had come.

“Do you have something you want to say, Dad?” She quirked an eyebrow at him.

Dad simply shook his head, still _perusing_ his menu, “I know when to keep quiet, missy, you got that look from your mother.”

Damn right, she did.

“Where are those two going?” Charlie asked, nodding out the window as the orange monstrosity left the parking lot.

“Registering at the center,” Jules answered, snagging a piece of bread off the table as Dad’s attention was stolen from the menu. She quickly continued, “Edythe can’t hide a bond from the Cullens.”

It was vaguer than she needed to be, considering there were few people in the diner and no Sensitives – not registered ones at least.

“How are you feeling?” Charlie asked, somewhat awkwardly as he entered into his most feared battlefield: emotions.

Jules shrugged, “I don’t care that much. Eddy promised that I get to tell Sam.”

Charlie chuckled even as Dad looked at her in confusion, “Just Sam?”

Jules nodded and Charlie went on to explain, “It’s customary within a clan to tell the Head of Clan first. Both as a sign of respect and so the hoc can welcome the new members into the Clan.”

Warmth from giddiness filled Jules’ chest, the idea of Edythe truly being part of her clan (though Sam and the rest considered her part of the clan since its formation). The teasing that would come along when they told them the full story, Jules could do without, but she trusted Emily to keep it to a minimum.

“When are you gonna tell him, then?” Dad asked.

“Well, hopefully, tonight?” Jules smiled hopefully at him, silently begging. He didn’t seem that convinced.

“You know I don’t like you going over there on a school night,” he began, ‘there’ being Sam and Emily’s house. Jules fought the urge to slump in her seat.

“Billy,” Charlie interrupted, “this _is_ a really big deal and she does need to tell him sooner rather than later. This isn’t news you want to do over the phone.” Jules posture straightened.

Dad sighed, looking between the two, “Fine. _But,_ ” he said before Jules got too excited, “I will be calling Emily later to make sure you finished your homework.”

She fought the urge to remind him, _once again_ , that being amongst her clan members made doing homework much easier; it made everything much easier. Being with her clan made her feel safe in a way she never could at home.

The one time she tried to explain that, though, Dad looked the same way he did when Rebecca explained, over the phone, that flights from Hawai’i to Port Angeles were too expensive for _just_ Christmas ( _just_ Spring Break, _just_ summer, until it became _ever_ ).

Jules just smiled, “thanks, Dad.”

When the server came by, the older man rattled off their orders – the same as always, not one diversion despite all the time spent staring at the menus – while Jules just waved off the server, claiming a lack of hunger (she was hungry, but, once she texted Sam and Emily that she would be dropping by later that night, she knew to leave room in her stomach for Emily’s cooking). The conversation turned to fishing, causing Jules to tune them out until she felt a surge of anger from Bella and then as if all of her energy had been zapped.

Her raised concern was met with two reassuring presences. Not explaining what happened, per se, but promising a lack of danger, and Jules felt at peace.

She could get used to this bonded thing.

* * *

 

Carlisle didn’t ask any questions as he lead Bella and Edythe into one of the open consultation rooms. He sat them down in two plastic chairs before pricking their fingers and sliding them into the machine on the counter of which Edythe never bothered to remember the name. It made stupid beeping noises as it analyzed the tiny drops of blood and the three sat in silence.

The rest of her Clan stood outside the doors, making Edythe’s heartbeat continue the rapid beating it insisted upon whenever in their presence and her hands uncomfortably moist. Bella grabbed one of her gross hands. At the contact, Edythe received a tidal wave: _calm_.

They met eyes.

“At this rate, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack at twenty-five,” Bella joked, mostly under her breath.

Edythe’s heartbeat went up again as her eyes flitted to Carlisle, who stood by the machine looking at the screen. He didn’t _seem_ to have heard and, technically, the rooms were soundproofed.

But, over the bond, Esme-

Their eyes met again, and Edythe’s thoughts stalled in the wake of Bella’s devastated expression. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no.

At the end of the ribbons that led to Jules, she felt concern rising once again at Edythe’s panic.

When did the room get _so small_?!

Someone was kneeling in front of her, grabbing her hands, and Edythe had felt this before, it only ever lead to pain and this person needed to _get away_ except they _didn’t_ because this was Bella. Bella was kind and peaceful, not sour or prickly, and when Bella grabbed her hands, she invited Edythe behind her shields when Edythe’s own became more a prison than a protection (distantly, Edythe remembered some class she was forced to take talking about how a Sentinel needing to leave their own mind to escape zone meant bad, bad things, but she couldn’t remember what or why and she was _so, so tired_ ). She offered Edythe the most protection a Guide could possibly give a Sentinel, even after all she’d done, and Edythe wanted to cry in relief. Instead, she felt her body, which felt like a completely separate entity considering how far gone she now way, slump against Bella’s, curling against her as if for warmth.

 _Sleep_ , Bella didn’t actually say the words, but Edythe understood. _Sleep now, you’re safe._

Jules’ presence was not as strong, but a comfort as Edythe began to succumb, like holding a well-loved blanket while cocooned in a comforter. As she fell closer and closer to sleep, she recognized the anger radiating from both Bella and Jules, but couldn’t bring herself to waken enough to find the source of it beyond being from an external source as opposed to each other.

 _Good_ , she thought as she finally fell asleep.

* * *

 

Jules needed to know what was going on at that fucking center or she would lose her mind. Dad, after grabbing her arm in concern when she almost fell out of her chair after the energy zap, had told her to go splash some water on her face when Charlie couldn’t explain what happened. Everything had seemed fine through the bond after, until she had to grab the sink suddenly when she felt nothing short of absolute _panic_ coming from Edythe, to the point of Bella _bringing Edythe into her mind_.

Jules could cry, _wanted_ to cry. How shattered was Edythe’s mind that Bella determined the best course of action to be Mind Sheltering? That was reserved for traumatized Sentinels, like war vets or first responders (or assault victims, domestic violence, abuse, her mind continued listing, but _no,_ not Edythe, she would _know_ ). And how _sudden was this!_ Three days ago everything was-

It wasn’t fine.

Jules _knew_ it wasn’t fine. She wanted to punch the girl staring at her in the mirror.

There was a reason she distracted Edythe until it was too late for the girl to drive home and there was a reason Edythe let her do it. There was a reason the Clan paid more collective attention to Edythe than any other member, beyond the fact that she wore a large band around her wrist baring the Cullen Clan Crest. There was a reason Sam painted the room the exact shade of blue as Edythe’s favorite sweater and Emily bought that ancient looking piano from Ms. Call’s second-hand store.

She hadn’t wanted to see, though, because what the fuck could _they_ do. Her Clan was a bunch of unregistered _kids_ from the Res who, though she loved with all her heart, were illegal, powerless, and unable to help Edythe in any way that actually mattered.

But it wasn’t just her and Edythe anymore, or even them and the Clan.

There was another angry presence, not asleep the way Edythe now was, ready to fight.

 _Bella_. Registered, daughter of police chief, Bella.

Jules’ anger subsided just slightly, not noticing as the ribbon between her and Bella strengthened just slightly.


	8. The Dollhouse

Bella cradled Edythe’s head to her, quietly shuffling her shields to accommodate the extra presence. She couldn’t Shelter Edythe forever – the sooner Edythe fell asleep, the better. With Jules on alert, thankfully, Edythe quickly calmed and relaxed, slipping into unconsciousness, allowing Bella to gently guide her back into her own mind. Bella braced herself as she readied to pick Edythe up, when it was easier than expected she didn’t know whether to be proud or concerned; ignoring either, she laid Edythe down on the examination bed in the room. It wasn’t the most comfortable place in the world, but it did the job for now.

She then turned to Carlisle, standing by the machine.

“You handled that surprisingly well,” Carlisle launched into interrogation mode. Bella shifted at the offending stench of suspicion. “Especially for such a new bond.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Bella’s hand twitched towards Edythe’s, but she forced herself to stand still and tall. “She was slipping, fast.”

Carlisle’s eyes narrowed further. “We’re in a sensitive proof room. What could possibly set her off in here to the point that you felt the need to _Mind Shelter_?”

“When has Sheltering ever been used for external irritants?” Bella quirked an eyebrow; this man ran the top Sentinel and Guide Care Center in the _country_ , he should know this.

“I think we both understand that your use of that technique was beyond necessary.”

 _Beyond necessary_.

“Considering _I’m_ the one actually in her head, I highly disagree,” Bella near spat, quickly reaching the end of her patience with the man. With the whole Cullen Clan actually.

Carlisle simply nodded, turning to the machine as it beeped. His eyebrows furrowed, out of confusion this time rather than anger, the waves coming from him becoming less jagged, turning curled.

“This can’t be right,” Carlisle muttered to himself. Bella felt her stomach knot. He shook his head, flipping through different pages at an alarming rate.

He turned back to Bella, his voice professionally kind and face smoothed of external emotion, even buffed his shields to disallow the barest slimmer of emotion through. “I’m sorry, Miss Swan, we cannot register your bond today.”

Bella blinked at him in shock, “…what does that mean?”

“I’m going to send your blood to labs in Port Angeles,” he explained. “We will notify you of the results in a couple of days.”

…alright…

“That’s all for today, then. I trust you can show yourself out,” Carlisle smiled blandly, eyes calculating.

“Edythe’s not awake yet-”

“No matter, I’ll have one of her siblings take her home as soon as she wakes up.”

“No, its fine, I’ll wait. We haven’t talked about where we’d spend the night, yet.” Though it was pretty obviously going to be either her own home or Jules’; probably hers, though, considering both her and Edythe went to Forks High and Jules went-

“Actually, it would be best that you two don’t see each other until the test results come back,” Carlisle interrupted her thoughts.

Bella’s stomach turned sharply, feeling as if it could bring her to her knees. _No_.

She just got her _back,_ it killed her to leave Jules at the diner for this long, knowing her to be safe with their fathers. Leave Edythe alone with _these people_ for _days_?!

“We’re bonded and you saw what just happened,” Bella stumbled as the panic began clawing at her throat. “I can’t-”

“Miss Swan, let me make this clear,” Carlisle’s voice lost any hint of warmth, chilling Bella to the bone. “Edythe will be coming home, _to her family_ , and you will go to your own. I will notify you in a few days the results from Port Angeles. You will not be seeing her before then.”

“You can’t _do this!_ ” Bella protested even as Carlisle grabbed her shoulder to escort her to the door of the room. “We’re _bonded_.”

“You are not bonded under the eyes of the law and I am her father.” Carlisle opened the door, leading her past the watching Clan to the glass exit doors. “Have a good day, Miss Swan.”

The doors opened and he nudged her through; sliding shut behind her, Bella felt as young and helpless the day she lost Edythe the first time. Tears welled in her eyes as she left the center, stumbling to her truck.

Driving away from the center felt like vultures ripping into her flesh as she kicked and screamed. Driving towards the diner felt like being bandaged together.

* * *

 

Jules could hear the truck driving down the street, but as it came closer, close enough to see through the windshield, she saw only Bella.

“Eddy’s not in the car,” Jules said, cutting off Charlies’ story about his latest fishing trip Dad missed out on for one reason or another.

“That can’t be good,” Charlie sighed.

The orange truck pulled into the parking lot and Jules shot out of her seat. She ran across the lot, ripping open the passenger door to see a cab filled only with Bella, resting her forehead on the steering wheel. Salt scented heavy in the air and little hiccups came from the girl, though her long hair curtained her face from Jules’ eyes.

“Where’s Eddy?” Jules demanded when Bella didn’t look up at her.

Bella just shook her head before dissolving into harder sobs, shoulders shaking violently.

“Shit,” Jules muttered under her breath, sliding into the seat and closing the passenger door behind her. Sitting in the cab, Jules watched as Bella continued to cry, unsure what to do.

Sure, they were _bonded_ , but what did that mean? When Edythe cried, Jules knew exactly what to do, when to hug her and how, when to be quiet or joke around, when to bring ice cream and which.

Bella, on the other hand, was a complete and utter enigma.

Eventually, though, Bella regained her composure and she sat back up, resting her back against the seat and letting her head fall back to look at the gray ceiling of the truck’s cab.

“How have you dealt with it, all these years?” She asked, voice rough from crying and quiet from exhaustion.

“Dealt with what?” Jules asked. Why was _Bella_ asking questions? Where _the fuck_ was Edythe?!

Bella’s head rolled to the right to look at Jules, “The _Cullens_.”

Ah.

Oh.

Shit.

“What happened?” Jules forced her voice calm. The Cullens were…the Cullens. Whatever they did was beyond Bella’s control.

Bella shook her head, turning to look back at the ceiling again as one hand raised to rub at her eyes.

“Carlisle said they couldn’t register the bond,” Bella said. “I don’t know why, the test was weird or something so their sending blood to a lab in Port Angeles. He said he didn’t want me seeing Edythe until the results came back.”

Jules blood boiled in her veins, “that’s _bullshit_! And Eddy just let that happen? That’s not like her!”

Bella closed her eyes tight, “She was asleep.”

Jules voice turned cold and hard as she glared daggers at the girl next to her, “You _left_ her?! Right after being Sheltered, you left her with those people?!”

“I had no choice, Jules!” Bella choked. “We aren’t legally bonded, I have no rights to her, especially not against both her father and her hoc!”

“Anything would have been better than _leaving her_ , Jesus Christ, Bella!” Jules swore, running her hand through her hair. “Even a potential bonded should have more rights than a fa-”

Wait.

“Father?” Jules asked. “Carlisle’s not her father.”

Bella shrugged, “I-I know, that’s what he called himself and I’m just-”

“Carlisle called himself Eddy’s father?” Jules interrupted, causing Bella to look at her quizzically.

“Yes…why is this what you’re focusing on?” Bella asked. Jules felt the slightest of probes from Bella’s ribbon, quickly abandoned. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“Whatever, that’s not important,” Jules ignored the action. “Carlisle never calls himself Eddy’s father.”

“What does it mean that he did, then?” Bella asked.

Jules shook her head, “I don’t know.” She bit her lip, “but I know people who can help us.”

“Who?”

“I was going to introduce you to them tonight, anyway,” Jules said. “My Clan.”

Bella’s eyes went wide, “You have a Clan? Is that what you and Eddy were whispering about earlier?”

Jules nodded, “Eddy…Eddy promised I could tell our hoc.” The honor felt less sweet, knowing Edythe wouldn’t be next to her, to introduce their guide to Sam together.

To Jules surprise, the car began rumbling beneath her. Bella slid her cellphone back into the cup holder as she began to drive the car out of the lot.

“Which way?” She asked, when they reached the road.

Jules stared at Bella.

“To your Clan house,” Bella said. “I texted our dads, told them we were heading that way.”

Jules pointed the way to turn and Bella followed. Silently, they made their way down to the Reservation, until Bella broke the silence.

“I know your angry at me,” Bella said, drawing Jules attention away from the greenery they passed. “I’ve had years, really, to come to grips with this. You’ve had a couple hours, at the most?” Bella let out a long sigh, “And this is definitely _way_ more complicated than I thought it would be. But I didn’t _want_ to leave Edythe with them and I fought as hard as I could without getting arrested.” Bella looked at Jules out of the corner of her eye, “I have waited ten years to be with you, I can’t handle being separated from both of you again.” Bella’s voice broke slightly. “Please tell me you understand.”

Jules swallowed the lump growing in her throat as she stared out the windshield at the road.

“Yeah. I understand.”


	9. The Right and the Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this got pretty dark at the end?? SOO trigger warnings for child abuse/inferred drugging/"sickness" for the last section of the chapter (starts right after "no problem, kiddo") If you need to skip that section, I will include a brief overview in the end A/N

Bella’s hand grew clammy, sticking to the steering wheel as she turned the car onto the dirt driveway with a red mailbox at the end marked ‘Uley’. As she pulled up to the house, she felt calmer and not simply because Jules’ mind settled from the constant tornado of _ragefearprotectlosslost._ Outside of her shields, Bella felt the warm presence of a greeting: welcoming, not bombarding, like a new neighbor bringing an apple pie.

Almost before Bella parked the car, Jules flung open the door and booked it to the steps of the front porch, taking the three steps in one leap. Bella had only just stepped out of the truck by the time Jules let herself into the house.

She didn’t dawdle out of apprehension of the house, rather anticipation. A squatty structure, the home belonged more in a kindergarten drawing than in real life. Sunshine wood paneling meshed nicely with the cream lacing and shutters; out of the roof poked a red brick chimney. It felt like everything Bella ever wanted out of life.

The absence of a third of her bond felt like throwing a rock through one of the windows.

Up the stairs and through the front door, she entered a house as homey as its outwardly appearance. The living room directly on her right, though filled with two sofas and a recliner pointed at a TV, was empty, so she made her way past the staircase on the left and down the hallway with a doorway at the end. The walls of the hall way were filled with well-framed pictures, repeating with the same twelve subjects, Edythe and Jules included.

Bella’s favorite, about halfway down the hall, was a small, older picture, of Edythe, Jules, and an older boy and girl, the two commonly seen together in the other photos as well, sitting on a log in front of a bonfire at the beach. Jules couldn’t be older than ten at the time, making Edythe around eleven, while the older two looked about sixteen. Jules’ smile took up her whole face as her hand clutched a small amulet carved from wood hanging around her neck, one that Bella recalled seeing on the older girl as well, and matched the boy’s own necklace and the girl’s barrette.

“Only about five years ago, but she does look so small there, doesn’t she?” A voice said, startling Bela out of her thoughts. The woman, previously leaning against the doorway, stopped in front of the picture, next to Bella. “They both do.” The woman corrected as she examined the photo. “Though sometimes it seems as if Eddy is smaller now than she was back then and Jules is much larger than she ever wanted to be.”

Bella didn’t know how to respond to the woman’s observations or even her sudden appearance. Only a second ago, the house felt practically empty – even now, she could only feel the same greeting presence she felt before, now tracked to the woman, the Guide, in front of her. The Guide with long scars down her face, highly uncharacteristic of a Guide still standing and not trapped in an empathic coma.

“I see Jules didn’t think to warn you,” The woman joked, her warmth not wavering. “You must be Bella.”

“Oh, my God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” the woman rushed. She held her hand out, “I’m Emily.”

Bella slowly grabbed her hand and meant to respond with, “It’s nice to meet you,” but the moment their hands touched, she realized how _not_ empty the house truly was. The sudden influx of emotions and presence where there had been none, the sudden cacophony in her head, almost took her to her knees.

“ _Woah_ ,” Emily grabbed Bella’s forearms, keeping her standing and anchored. “Alright, it’s okay, breathe.”

When Bella’s labored breathing calmed and the noise faded to the background, she could focus on Emily once again; suddenly much closer and more concerned than before.

“That’s my fault,” Emily apologized. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in close contact with a Guide outside of our Clan.”

“What was that exactly?” Bella asked, breath still not coming as easily as one would want.

“I’m the Guide to our Head of Clan, Sam.” Emily explained, eyes flickering across Bella’s face and hands roaming, as if trying to soothe invisible injuries. “That must have been such a shock,” She muttered to herself, before shaking her head slightly and continuing. “I keep the Clan shielded from outsiders.”

Understanding dawned on Bella, “That’s why I couldn’t feel them? How’s that even possible?!”

Emily’s smile twisted into a small smirk, “That is for me to know and, hopefully, for you to never need to. It’s hard work, but, despite our family’s youth, we are a powerful Clan.” She patted Bella’s cheek before letting go, stepping away from the younger Guide. “Come along, everyone’s in the backyard right now dying to meet you.”

* * *

 

Jules barely waited for the car to stop to hurl herself out of the truck and into the house. She could feel the presence of all her Clan members, milling about inside the kitchen or in the backyard, and smell burgers grilling on the stove and fry bread frying. The usual feeling she got, during the too few times she could make it to the Clan house, the usual sense of peace and rightness in the world in the presence of her family happy and well was absent, lost in the devastation of _losing_ Edythe and the jumbled confusion that were her emotions in regards to Bella.

When she made it to the kitchen, Sam and Emily were already waiting for her, the rest of the Clan in the backyard.

“I bonded,” Jules spat out as she tried to organize her racing mind. “With Eddy and Bella. Bella Swan, Charlie’s daughter. And, uh, Bella’s here, now. Eddy isn’t though. She’s at the Cullens. Maybe, I-I don’t know, a lots happened today.”

“Where is Bella, exactly?” Emily asked as Sam stood, looking even more confused than when Jules first ran into the kitchen.

“…probably still in the car.”

“You left that poor girl in her _car_?!” Sam exclaimed.

“A lot has happened today!” All of the emotions of the day felt as if they had suddenly been dropped on top of Jules and Sam’s clear disapproval of her actions was _not helping_. She swiped angrily at her eyes, the no good traitors they were.

“Samuel, take Jules upstairs.” Any other day, Jules would laugh at her hoc being called his full name by his bonded, a clear sign of Emily being annoyed with him; not today. “I’ll go greet Bella.”

“C’mere, Julie,” Sam sighed, wrapping one of his large arms around Jules’ shoulders, pulling him close to her as he led her to the back staircase.

He gently nudged her in front of him as they reached the base of the narrow staircase and, when they made it to the second floor, opened the door to the room with three name tags: Jules, Embry, and Quil. Inside, however, were four twin beds, each in a different corner of the room and the walls were painted a soft blue. Jules immediately sat down on the bed in the far right corner of the room, perfectly made and covered in a heaping mound of blankets, mostly mismatched, because Edythe was always cold, but didn’t want anyone to spend actual money to buy her bedding that matched. Instead, she slowly collected various blankets for the rare nights she got to spend in her _actual_ Clan house (though Edythe would never actually call it that and always sneakily got rid of her name tag whenever Emily had the urge to try to put one on the door again). It still smelt like her though, if faint, and Jules quickly forwent sitting on the bed in favor of smooshing her face into Edythe’s pillows.

She felt the dip in the bed as Sam sat next to her. He stayed quiet as Jules laid there, deeply inhaling Edythe’s scent in an attempt to calm herself; it just made her ache for Edythe more.

“Julie,” Sam said, a large hand grasping her shoulder, “we need to talk about this.”

Jules shook her head.

Sam sighed and Jules felt the bed bounce back from its depressed position as Sam stood. He didn’t go far, however, as suddenly, Sam was in front of Jules, brushing her hair back. She opened the eye not squished into the pillow to see him kneeling in front of her. His hand moved, gently and firmly cupping the back of her neck, anchoring her in the way hoc’s did best.

“Let me help you,” he said.

“I don’t know where to start,” Jules choked.

“Okay, that’s okay,” his hand began massaging the base of her neck, relaxing her slightly. “How about this: how did you bond?”

From there, Sam slowly eked out the day’s events from Jules with careful questions and encouragement, easing Jules away from the emotional cliffs and towards a more stable place. By the end, Jules felt almost relaxed.

At the same time, she realized something: “I don’t think I’ve ever hated anyone before, Sam.”

Sam quirked an eyebrow, “Really?”

“I think I thought I did,” Jules corrected, before continuing. “I think I thought I hated a lot of people. But none of that has ever come close to what I feel about the Cullens right now.”

“Jules,” Sam sounded disapproving, but Jules couldn’t understand that.

“Do you not?” Jules asked, confused, too drained to be angry.

“I do, but Emily doesn’t and I feel in this case it is definitely best to take Emily’s lead,” Sam said, causing Jules to chuckle. “Are you ready to go downstairs?”

Jules bit her lip. She wanted to be with the rest of her Clan, be with her Guide (despite all of her confusion and exhaustion), but…

“I know you’re worried about Eddy,” Sam said, “but…there isn’t anything we can do right now. So let’s go downstairs and you can help introduce Bella to everyone. Then, when Eddy comes home, we get to do it all over again.”

Jules smiled as she sat up, “Thanks, Sam.”

“No problem, kiddo.”

* * *

 

Edythe’s parents loved water in all its forms, whether it be river, lake or sea, so Edythe, from the youngest age possible, knew how to swim. By the age of five, her life goals consisted of swimming to the bottom of the deep end of the pool and becoming a mermaid. At six, she decided she wanted to be a marine biologist (at seven, all of these life goals and decisions were shoved aside and forgotten, replaced by the sanitized career choices expected of a Sentinel). Long story short, Edythe knew how to swim.

So why was she _drowning_?

Edythe awoke suddenly sitting bolt upright and coughing as if her life depended on it. Disgusting fluid escaped her and into a tissue shoved in front of her face, thrown away once the coughing fit stopped. Her mind felt full of cotton balls as she swiped at overly heavy eyelids.

“Oh, poor dear, better out than in, I suppose,” Esme hummed as she returned from throwing away the tissue. She sat down on a chair, pulled close to Edythe’s bedside.

“E-Esme?” Edythe asked, confused.

Esme smiled as she began stroking Edythe’s hair. “How are you feeling, pet?”

“What’s going on?” For the life of her, Edythe couldn’t understand why it felt wrong that she was in her room. “Why am I here?”

Sure, she didn’t love being home, but she never felt _this_ wrong. Like there was somewhere she _needed_ to be.

Esme just laughed, pressing onto Edythe’s shoulder until she laid back down. “Where else would you be, silly goose? You’re sick. Here.” She lifted Edythe’s head away from the pillow and a glass to her lips, “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

As the liquid entered Edythe’s mouth, she locked eyes with Esme. She held it on her tongue.

For just a second, the warmth in Esme’s eyes hardened and Esme tilted the glass a bit higher, forcing even more into Edythe. She acquiesced, letting the liquid slide down into her stomach. “Warmth” returned.

“Good,” Esme said, laying Edythe’s head back down onto the pillow. “Now, go back to sleep.”

And she did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> basically, Edythe is at home and very confused as to whats going on. she feels like shes drowning, is coughing up a lot of fluid and feels very disoriented. Esme forces her to drink an unknown liquid and then Edythe falls asleep.


	10. Older Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Darkness, My Old Friend...  
> I don't know what exactly is happening to my fluffy story. Um. TRIGGER WARNINGS start after the phrase "felt deserted in comparison. dead" and they are DRUGGED BEHAVIOR, INFERRED CHILD ABUSE/MANIPULATION, and INFERRED DRUGGING/POISONING an overview of the scene will be given in the bottom end notes if you want to skip this last section

When Bella entered the backyard, all conversation stopped. Instead of the lively chatter, silence reigned supreme as they stared at her in shock, one foot still on the last step.

One of the older boys, probably around her age, recovered first, his shock turning to suspicion as harsh lines formed on his face, “Where’s Eddy?”

“Paul-” Emily began, before the boy cut her off, advancing towards them in a way Bella never expected a _Guide_ to behave. She took a step back, fully onto the steps and halfway towards running back into the house.

“No! Where the _fuck_ is Eddy?” Paul demanded. “Why did Jules run in here, losing her fucking mind, with this _stranger_?!”

“Language. Let me explain,” Emily said. “Bella is, potentially, a new member to our Clan, if that’s what she wants.”

The silence returned and Paul took a step back, though his hands clenched into tight fists. Dismay filled the air, mixed with concern and, surprisingly, a bit of grief. Bella took another step closer towards the backdoor.

“Oh, for God’s sake, that is _not_ how you welcome someone!” Emily exclaimed, turning to Bella and grabbing one of her hands. “Don’t you go running off just because they’re idiots who won’t listen.”

Emily pulled Bella away from the door and down the steps, sitting her down on one of the chairs gathered in a circle, the others clumped towards the other half.

“You should all be ashamed of yourselves.” Emily glared. “Eddy would never want you to treat someone like this, even on her behalf. And I don’t think she’s going to like hearing that you were this rude to her Guide when she comes home.”

“Maybe if you would actually tell us what’s going on instead of speaking in riddles,” Paul began, shutting up when the full force of Emily’s glare fixed onto him.

“Bella is bonded to _both_ Jules and Eddy. And I am only assuming, but it is probably a complicated situation that neither Jules nor Bella need you all grilling them about!” Emily said. “Eddy, obviously, isn’t here right now, she’s at the Cullen house,” groans came from the group at this, but Emily plowed onwards, “and I know none of us are happy about that, but it is what it is.”

“So…Bella’s bonded to Eddy, as well?” The youngest boy asked from where he stood just behind Paul. Bella’s focus briefly went to their hands: the boy’s fingers dancing towards Paul’s, but never actually taking his hand.

“Yes, I am,” Bella said, confidence growing as the previously dismal emotions filtered out, replaced by low-level excitement and joy.

“ _Yes_!” One of the other boys cheered, fist pumping the air before turning to another boy, who had his arm wrapped around the waist of a girl, the only other non-Native American in the group.

“I will admit, that was not what I meant, but I love the enthusiasm,” Emily said after a moment.

“He’s just excited because he won the bet,” The younger one piped up, causing Paul to casually wrap his arm around the boy’s shoulders, placing his hand firmly over the boy’s mouth.

“Ha-ha, Seth, what are you talking about?” Paul laughed as Emily’s eyes narrowed once again. “Sorry, Em, you know him, such a _prankster_.”

Seth let out a muffled ‘oops’ from behind Paul’s hand.

“Ignore them,” Emily advised. “Anyway, quick introductions, that’s Paul and Seth,” Seth waved smiling even as Paul’s hand didn’t move, Paul just raised one hand. “Angela and Embry,” the boy raised a hand to his forehead in a mock salute while the girl smiled. “That’s Quil,” the previously excited boy, now embarrassed, simply nodded at her. “And that’s Jared and Kim.” The two were the only ones actually sitting in chairs like Bella was, though they more lounged than sat bolt upright like Bella did.

“It’s nice to meet you, Bella,” Kim smiled.

“I promise that no one placed any bets on your bonding,” Jared lied through his teeth, causing Bella to laugh.

“ _Dude_ ,” Paul said, turning to stare at Jared in betrayal, while Seth managed to wiggle out from Paul’s grasp.

“So he gets to say things about the bet, but I can’t?!”

“No one was supposed to say any things about the bet!”

“Oh, so you all admit there was a bet, despite the fact that I _explicitly_ told you not to?”

“It isn’t that big of a deal!”

Thus, the lively conversation resumed.

* * *

 

When Jules finally got to the backyard, Sam a step in front of her, ants danced under her skin as she searched for Bella. She blamed it on the slight anxiety she felt coming over the bond (uncomfortably and concerning paired with the bland nothingness coming from Edythe), but Jules felt the irrepressible urge to be right next to Bella that instant. Luckily, Bella stuck out like a sore thumb for Jules to gravitate towards, sitting prim and quiet in the chair while the rest lounged about, arguing and joking about one thing or another.

Standing next to the chair, however, Jules didn’t know what to say, just staring at the Guide, happy she was there, but without a clue where to go next. Barely a few second ticked by before Bella took the lead.

“How’d the talk go?” She asked, voice so low not one head turned to look their way. Bella didn’t turn to look up at Jules, though, but kept watching the rest.

“Good,” Jules matched her volume. “Sam’s…he’s really good at talking me down,” she winced, “sorry for leaving you in the car and…everything else that was really rude and not very, you know, bond-y of me.”

Bella exhaled sharply at that, clearly amused, “I think, after the day you’ve had, you’re entitled to a _bit_ of rudeness, wouldn’t you say?”

“Still wasn’t fair to you,” Jules muttered, her guilt growing at how stupidly understanding Bella was as she stared at her feet; she kicked at a particularly ugly looking weed.

Bella grabbed her hand, causing Jules to look at the girl now looking up at her, determined, “Anything you’ve done today that could be classified as either of those things has been done in regards to you being worried about Eddy. I do not hold this against you _at all_.”

Jules stared at Bella, just a tad star struck.

“Okay, lovebirds, this isn’t cute anymore, just gross,” Quil called from where the others were standing, apparently now watching.

“Shut up, Quil,” Jules retorted, though she felt heat climbing up her cheeks and scorching her ears. “You’re one to talk.”

Embry snorted at that, arms wrapping around Angela as he rested his cheek on her shoulder, “Yeah, remember that time you ate a live worm?”

“That was _one time_!” Quil shrieked, his voice raising three octaves. “In third grade!”

“One time is too many times to eat a live worm,” Bella muttered under her breath.

Jules guessed that the Guide only intended for Jules to hear, but, with everyone’s attention now fixed on them, that was not the case as all of the Sentinels began to seize with laughter; Quil crossed his arms in pout as the Guides quickly relayed the joke to their Sentinels.

“Lighten up,” Sam nudged Quil’s shoulder. “This is supposed to be a celebration.”

“Yes!” Kim perked up, smiley as always and looking two seconds away from clapping. “C’mon, Jules.”

The rest of the Clan looked at her expectantly and Jules’ resisted the urge to roll her eyes at them; she’d _heard_ Emily introducing Bella, but, tradition was tradition…

Helping Bella out of her chair, Jules went around introducing the Clan to Bella, Guide-Sentinel (or just Sentinel, in Quil’s case). Once they were all “introduced,” Jules took Bella’s hand as she stood in front of her Clan.

“Clan Members,” Jules said, looking at Bella, “This is my Guide, Bella Swan.”

They burst into cheers, but Bella’s grip tightened at the same time Jules’ heart clenched. The same uneasy mixture of excitement and concern flooded through their bond, pulsing and alive. Their other bonds, the two ribbons that connected each girl to Edythe, felt deserted in comparison. Dead.

* * *

 

The next time Edythe woke, she felt sheer and overwhelming panic as she looked out into darkness. Pure and complete, she could not see anything and a little voice at the back of her head hissed _this was death_.

As she felt the panic begin to mount, however, a light turned on – the lamp on her bedside table, to be exact. But that didn’t make sense, she thought as her eyes fought to adjust. Being a Sentinel, a bedroom never reached that level of dark. The darkness combined with the consistently building pressure in her chest – Edythe felt justified in her panic.

“Edythe,” a voice hissed, startling her, though that was stupid considering _someone_ had to have turned on the lamp. Nothing was making proper sense, though, to the point she was beginning to question if anything ever had made proper sense, before. “Edythe, _look at me_.”

At that, Edythe realized she’d been staring at the ceiling. Had she been staring there the whole time? She must have been, she figured, because there wasn’t anything before. Was there? She forced her head to the side from where she thought the voice came, her head filled with cotton feeling like a cement brick.

“Oh, God,” a girl with a pixie face and hair to match ( _Alice_ , the little voice said, _that’s Alice_ ) whispered, hand fluttering around Edythe’s face. She turned to look behind her, causing Edythe’s focus to drift there, too, to see a boy she hadn’t noticed before with blonde curls and weird scars all over ( _Jasper,_ the little voice seemed angry now, _you know this, you know them. Focus_ ). “Wh-what’s happening to her?”

“It’s only been a day, twenty-six hours at the most,” Jasper muttered, eyebrows furrowed. “If she were only reacting to bond withdrawal, this is too fast for that.”

“I told you, she’s poisoning her,” another voice. It was almost annoying, Edythe would say, if she remembered how to be annoyed or how to say. This voice came from the other side and Edythe dutifully rolled her cement block that way; this voice didn’t seem to appreciate her efforts. “ _Careful_ ,” it said, hands going to cradle her head, gently settling it in the position she wanted it. She was now looking at dark eyes and a short crew cut, a face set in a serious expression never seen before and she remembered it herself – Emmett. She always did like Emmett, though she couldn’t puzzle together what always actually meant. His hands hadn’t left and he gently stroked her hairline, looking for all the world like he was going to cry. “We need to do something. Anything.” He shook his head, hands still cradling Edythe’s face, “This isn’t right.”

“Keep your voice _down_ ,” Jasper hissed, as Emmett’s voice gained volume the more choked he sounded.

“This is _murder_ ,” Emmet hissed back, letting go of Edythe to stand, now focused fully on Jasper. “We are watching a girl die!”

“No,” Alice said, voice hard. “We are not. There must be something else going on, right?” Jasper refused to look at her. “Right?” Emmett just shook his head. “Guys, come on, this is _Esme_ we’re talking about.”

“Alice, _look at her_ ,” he pointed at Edythe, who felt mildly offended at his digit for no discernable reason. “Look _around_ you. This is supposed to be a Sentinel’s bedroom.”

Edythe lost the plot to the conversation a few sentences back, but this seemed bizarre even to her. Alice looked the same level of confused while Jasper just looked serious, but some instinct told her that Jasper always just looked serious.

Emmett groaned, “Listen.” Edythe didn’t, to busy staring at the lines forming on his face and chuckling at a joke she couldn’t remember. “Do you hear that? _That’s the heater_. Look,” he pointed at the window, “There’s not even a fucking curtain on that, let alone black out blinds. Would _you_ be able to sleep in the room we walked in to? These sheets are way too low of a thread count. There’s an air freshener plugged in behind that bookcase. Who designed this room? Who oversaw the contract work when the house was sound-proofed?”

“She _saved_ me, Emmett,” Alice sounded as near to crying as Emmett had been and while Edythe understood the word enough to link it to the sound the girl made, she suddenly felt an intense curiosity as to what it actually meant. Didn’t she know just a few moments ago? (she must not have). “She saved all of us.”

Jasper put a hand on Alice’s shoulder, turning her towards him. “Love. Look.”

Edythe didn’t know what anyone was supposed to be looking at, but she stared at Alice, whose eyes looked particularly sparkly.

“Eric Yorkie said something about doing an interview on the new girl tomorrow. That has to be Bella,” Alice said.

“We can catch her before first period, hopefully,” Emmett said. “Would that…work, Jas?”

Jasper hummed, looking at Edythe in a way she recognized from a quick flash of a boy, younger than him, sitting on a step, reading a book. He put a cool hand on Edythe’s forehead, then frowned. “I don’t like her fever, but…it’s our best plan.”

The hand removed from Edythe’s forehead brought to light how _warm_ Edythe felt. Like she was burning from the inside out. She didn’t like it. She tried kicking her legs, moving her arms, anything to feel cooler.

“No, Edythe, stop, shh,” Emmett tried, as Edythe began moaning and groaning in her desperation to get away from the heat. “Edythe, please!”

“We need to go,” Jasper said, reaching across the bed to grab Emmett’s arm. “Now.”

Edythe didn’t notice as they left, even as they turned the light off. _Burning_. The momentary excitement, anticipation for relief, was killed when the glass did not give her water to douse the flame, but fuel.

She was wrong before. _This was death_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edythe has no clue what is going on at all. Alice, Jasper, and Emmett are in her room, discussing how whatever Esme is doing to her is obviously killing her (Alice being the most distressed as she does not want to believe Esme to be capable of such malicious behavior; Emmett, on the other hand, appears much more angry and willing to believe such - points out how Edythe's room is not actually properly suited for a Sentinel; Jasper seems to have background knowledge on medical things, understands some of what is going on and can probe that Esme is lying - Edythe notes his scarring). It has been over a day since Edythe last saw Bella and Jules (it was Sunday, it is now Monday afternoon). Emmett, Alice and Jasper decide to catch Bella on Tuesday before first period to bring her to the house. 
> 
> PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW THEY MEAN THE ABSOLUTE WORLD TO ME ESPECIALLY CAUSE THIS CHAP WAS A BITCH TO WRITE (Also I PROMISE Edythe is not going to die)


	11. Soaring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY no trigger warnings this chapter!! Back to our regular scheduled hurt/comfort

Bella forced herself to not look at Jules as she poured herself a bowl of cereal: ignore the younger girl’s shaking hands with nails ragged from biting, not question the Northwest Phoenix High t-shirt she wore, not notice the tired biography of Hildegard she occasionally thumbed through, to read the compact script in the margins. But even without looking, she _felt._ Bella knew that if she looked over, she wouldn’t see the excited energy she felt for that first few seconds before making eye contact with her sentinels, or even the righteous protective fury and passion – purple shadows and solemn expressions replaced that life.

With a shaky breath, Bella tried to smile as she poured the milk into the bowl, still not looking at Jules sitting at the dining table (where not even a full _two days_ ago, they’d _all_ sat and how did this go so wrong so _fast_?): “Are you sure you don’t want any cereal?”

“No, thanks, Bells,” Jules’ voice, thin and small.

“All right,” Bella swallowed as a lump formed at the base of her throat, “Help yourself to anything you want while I’m at school, okay?”

Jules didn’t respond, not verbally, but Bella felt the surge of panic and the wave of sorrow that crashed over it. When Bella finally did turn to approach the table, Jules sat sideways in a chair with her knees to her chest, face buried in her kneecaps.

“I’m sorry,” Jules muttered as Bella sat down at the table. “I’m really trying, I am. It’s your first day and you probably are nervous about a thousand other things and I’m here just being such a _girl_ -”

“Okay, one, you are a girl and that is in no way a bad thing,” Bella interrupted. “And, secondly, this is a perfectly normal reaction to being separated from your bonded.”

Jules adjusted herself, her cheek now resting on the knees, in order to allow her to glare at Bella, “I don’t see you being an anxious, crying mess.” The younger girl lifted her head and groaned, dragging a hand down her face, “You’re _going_ to school, I’m missing two days! I’m gonna be so behind in chemistry.”

Bella went silent for a moment, before saying in a subdued tone, “If you think I’m handling this any better than you, you are incredibly wrong.” At Jules’ confusion, she continued, “I’m a Guide, my whole jig is emotional repression and compartmentalizing.” The confusion turned to abject horror, causing Bella to wince, “That was…mostly a joke.”

“Eddy would tell you that you need to talk to Emily about that,” Jules said.

“And what would Jules say?” Bella asked.

“To go ask Eddy.” She deadpanned.

Bella chuckled before digging into her cereal. A quick glance at the clock, Bella shoveled a quick few bites before standing.

“I really have to get going,” She said, dropping down to place a chaste kiss on the top of Jules’ head – a move that made both her and Jules’ faces warm. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home?”

Jules shook her head, “No. I’ll just camp on your couch for the day. If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all,” used dishes in the sink, Bella grabbed her bag and keys. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

Jules nodded.

“Jules,” Bella’s tone forced eye contact. “I promise. I’m going to school and coming straight back, okay? No stops.”

A small smile, Jules nodded.

* * *

 

Bella didn’t realize how quickly she could be persuaded to breaking her promises. It seemed mere seconds after she got out of the car, before a burly man who looked vaguely familiar grabbed her and pulled her over to a jeep – barely giving her time to scream at all. Though it wouldn’t have helped, considering there were very few people in the parking lot given the time.

“ _Emmett James Cullen_!” A small, pixie girl in the jeep screeched out of the open window. “You do not just drag a girl to a car! Especially one with tinted windows!”

“What?” The man, Emmett, apparently, and it abruptly clicked from where she knew them. At the same time, Emmett’s actions dawned on him as he let go of her arm and took a step back, “Oh, God! I am _so_ sorry, I wasn’t thinking!”

“Obviously,” Bella snarked. Eyes narrowed, she crossed her arms, “What do you want?”

“You need to come with us,” Alice said. “Right now.”

“Why the hell would I go anywhere with _you_?” Bella asked. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to have contact with you until the results come in.”

“Look, there’s no time!” Emmett yanked open the door, “Get in.”

“I’m not getting in your fucking car!”

“Bella,” the curly blonde – Casper, Jason, something like that Bella figured – looked at her from the passenger seat of the car. “From one Guide to another, you need to get in the car. We’ll explain on the way – it’s about Edythe.”

Hesitancy colored Bella’s movements, but she climbed into the car. Emmett whooped, going around to climb into the front seat.

“Where’s your Guide, anyway?” She asked as she buckled in, Emmett starting the car and already pulling out of the parking space.

“She doesn’t know what’s going on, per se,” Emmett said, his voice a little too high pitched and sing-song like.

“She’d rat us out in two seconds flat,” Jasper answered. “We aren’t supposed to be talking to you, you know, let alone take you home.”

“You’re taking me _where now_?!” Bella shrieked, not taking into account the close quarters. The car jerked before settling itself on the road.

“Good lord, I have not missed _that_ from being single,” Emmett muttered as he took back control of the car, flashing a smile back at Bella to reassure her and noticed her confused look. “In order to keep this form Rose, I’ve, uh, kind of been censoring shit?”

“Are you using the false mind technique?” Bella asked, inching forward in her seat. “On your own Guide?”

Emmett blushed a deep red, “Yeah, it’s pretty shitty-”

“That’s _incredible_!” Bella’s eyes went wide. “I’ve only read about it in some of the articles that came out of the Cullen center a few years back – and that was talking about _Clan members_ at the closest.”

“-okay, then.” Emmett trailed off. “No wonder Edythe decided to bond with you, you certainly are a strange one.”

Edythe.

“What’s the emergency anyway?” Bella asked, looking between the other teenagers who suddenly began shooting each other nervous looks. “You promised you’d tell me on the way.”

Jasper let out a heavy sigh, “Somethings wrong with Edythe. Bond withdrawal, probably, but…”

“Even with her being a higher risk bonding case, she shouldn’t go into withdrawal this quickly,” Bella said, a sour taste filling her mouth.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Jasper agreed.

Alice looked like the picture of devastation, but didn’t say anything. Jasper quietly put his hand back behind his seat, letting her latch on to him.

“Esme’s poisoning her,” Emmett said, blunt. “There’s no way around it. We just don’t know why.”

“She’s _poisoning_ Eddy?!” Bella’s heartrate shot through the rough, as if her heart planned to take a trip out of her chest and into the stratosphere.

“Esme is giving Edythe some sort of medication, which can also be called a drug,” Alice said, her voice prim and carefully devoid of emotion. “Esme is not a doctor, only bonded to a medical professional, and what she is giving Edythe may be having unforeseen side effects.” Alice looked at Bella out of the corner of her eye, “We don’t even know the true nature of your bond because of some strangeness with your blood test.”

“Or she’s just lost her fucking mind-”

“What is _wrong_ with you, Emmett?! This is Mom!”

“Alice, I know you love Esme,” Emmett growled. “But she is not _my_ mom.”

“God, you sound like Edythe,” Alice rolled her eyes. “She’s been your mom for five years, Emmett.”

“Just because you never had a mom doesn’t mean you get to force us all to take Esme as ours,” Emmett snapped, his knuckled pearly white against the dark steering wheel.

“That’s enough, you two,” Jasper said firmly, cutting off the growls that the two Sentinels began to make. “You can rip each other’s throats out after we figure out what’s going on with Edythe.”

The two settled, somewhat, and awkward silence descended on the group. Finally, Emmett turned down a long driveway leading to a large white house that Bella took to be their destination.

When they got out, Emmett nodded, grimly happy, “No one else is home and Edythe’s…okay.” He looked Bella’s way, “That’s a good thing.”

The Cullens led the way into the house. Bella hated it.

Maybe it was the way it all appeared out of a Perfect Homes magazine yet housed five teenagers. Maybe it was the exact shade of eggshell that painted the walls bare of anything except Aesthetic Art. Maybe it was the harshness of the marble floors. Maybe it was a little bit of everything that set Bella distinctly on-edge and ready to flee.

The others didn’t take notice of her discomfort, taking to the stairs instead. Bella followed, up the first flight and then into the attic story. Her heart broke just a little bit when she entered the room.

An already thin and pale girl, Edythe looked practically porcelain and vulnerable laying in her bed, sleeping. Clearly restless, her forehead scrunched and dotted with sweat, Edythe began mumbling and attempting to turn her head.

Immediately, Bella went to Edythe, sitting on the side of her bed. Gently, she reached over to cup Edythe’s warm cheek, turning the girl towards her.

“Oh, _sweetie_ ,” Bella could hear her own heartbreak as tears began to well in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Eddy.”

Eddy’s eyelids began to flutter before opening, revealing her beautiful green eyes. She looked up at Bella and, for a moment, Bella’s heart dropped at the lack of recognition.

But then she lit up, “Bella.”

And her heart soared.


	12. A Risk Worth Taking

Edythe’s eyes didn’t move from their fixed position on Bella’s face and she said nothing else. She obviously knew Bella, but the cheek underneath her hand felt way too warm and her eyes. She could see green, yes, but only the barest hint at the very edges.

Drugged. So drugged.

Which would definitely explain the complete, impenetrable fog coming from Edythe’s side of the bond.

As Bella’s hands began roaming, checking her pulse and struggling to remember the little first aid she took during those lifeguard classes that felt like a lifetime ago, Edythe began making small, distressed noises, more whines than anything else.

“Shh, _shh_ ,” Bella calmed, threading her fingers through her thick hair. “Everything’s all right now.” Her eyes slowly slipped closed at Bella’s ministrations, but she forced them open once again with another distressed whine that tugged at her heart. “No, no, its fine, go to sleep, Eddy. Sleep now.”

Her eyes slipped closed, again, and stayed closed. Bella could cry. The others stayed quiet, for a few moments, watching the girl taking unsteady breaths. Other than her breathing, she looked more peaceful than before, at least.

“So,” Alice crossed her arms, defiance radiating from her, “What do you think?”

“She’s definitely been drugged,” Bella said. “Her eyes…” Bella shook her head and looked at the others, “Do you have any idea what Esme could be giving her?”

“All Esme said was that Edythe’s been really sick,” Emmett said. “I don’t think Carlisle’s even been up here.”

“But Carlisle’s a _doctor_ ,” Bella stressed.

Alice’s arms fell to her sides at that, her mouth open slightly as if she wanted to say something, but lacked any words _to_ say. She looked at her bonded, who now stared at the floor with a knitted brow. Emmett, on the other hand, looked as if he could explode.

“You’re right! Carlisle is a doctor, so why the hell is he not treating Edythe?” Emmett asked, gesticulating wildly. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell these two!”

“I’ve listened to you, you nitwit,” Jasper muttered, though the words sounded more habit than actual response. “That is troubling, though. To say the least.”

Alice, though, began backing away from the bed, towards the door. “No.”

Jasper’s eyes snapped up, focus on Alice, “Alice…”

She shook her head, her hands moving towards her short hair, “No, no. I can’t-I can’t do this again, Jasper!”

“Shit,” Emmett cursed under his breath, just loud enough for Bella to hear.

“Alice, you are okay,” Jasper kept his voice low and smooth, forcing eye contact with his bonded. “You are safe and healthy and not alone. I’m here.”

Healthy?

Eyes watery, Alice pitched towards Jasper. He cradled her to him.

“She’ll be fine,” Jasper said, rubbing her back. “I’m going to take her to our room.”

Emmett nodded, “Text me if you need anything.”

The corners of Jasper’s mouth ticked upward just slightly. “Thank you.”

Emmett’s eyes flickered to the door, a silent _go._ Jasper led his bonded out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

“What…?”

Emmett shrugged, not looking her in the eye, “We’re wards, Bella. Not all of us came from family’s like Edythe’s.”

Once again, Bella was struck with the reminder that she knew next to nothing about her bonded, other than the few remarks she heard thrown around the past few days. Luckily, Emmett didn’t seem to notice.

“Out of any of us, Alice came from the roughest situation,” he said.

Feeling the distress and discomfort, Bella quickly cut in, “I don’t need to know any more. As long as she won’t call Esme…?”

“She won’t,” Emmett assured. “Even if she wasn’t…going through what she is right now, Jasper wouldn’t let her anyway.” Emmett looked at Edythe, “He knew something was wrong before I even did. He just thought he was being paranoid.”

Bella nodded her head, before standing off the bed. “All right. Now, help me.”

“Help you?”

“Pack her bag,” Bella said, unable to keep the _duh_ from her voice. At Emmett’s look of surprise, she continued, “You didn’t think I was just going to _leave_ her here, did you?”

“Where are you planning on going?” Emmett asked. “Do you really think Carlisle and Esme are going to be okay with this?”

“La Push is a federally recognized sovereign dependent nation.” She watched as the lightbulb all but appeared over Emmett’s head. “It’s not a perfect solution, but it is one for a desperate situation.”

Emmett’s smile bordered on feral. “Let’s get packing.”

* * *

It made Bella vaguely uncomfortable to think about exactly how easy it was to move a heavily drugged, barely conscious girl from the jeep into her truck in the middle of the day at the school parking lot. However, as she pulled out of the parking lot and raced home, she felt only relief when she could look over and see Edythe, wrapped in a quilt apparently made by Jules’ mother, dozing.

Edythe didn’t say a word the whole transfer, just a few small moans and whines when she was moved, but each time she looked at Bella, she just smiled. Other than the one time Emmett held her as Bella opened the truck and created a comfortable space for Edythe, where the girl frowned and tried to throw herself at Bella. Being a rather clumsy person, just barely catching the completely-out-of-it sentinel counted as a major feat of athletic ability in Bella’s book.

As they got closer to the Swan house, however, Edythe began to stir more. Bella glanced over at her, worry mounting, until Edythe said her second word of the day: “Julie.”

Bella smiled slightly, reaching over to rub at Edythe’s arm, “Yeah, honey.” Her voice sounded choked, even to her own ears. “We’re going to get Julie.”

Edythe smiled again.

The truck pulled into the driveway and, when Bella put it into park, she looked over at Edythe, half-dozing once again. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, before quickly leaning over and pecking Edythe’s forehead.

“I’m going to run in and get Jules, okay?” Bella told the girl. “I’ll be back super soon, okay? I promise.”

Edythe didn’t open her eyes, but she gave what sounded like an answering hum. Her forehead glistened, sweating as if she just broke a fever.

With that, Bella got out of the truck and ran to the house, fumbling with her keys to unlock the door before it swung open. It had barely closed behind her when she was calling, “Jules!”

But Jules was already there, trying to get out the door, only resisted by Bella’s hands on her shoulders.

“Eddy’s here,” Jules’ voice edged on frantic. “She’s _here_ , let me _see her_!”

“Jules, you need to go get your stuff, okay? Eddy’s in the car, but we need to go,” Bella pushed Jules, now somewhat limp, towards the stairs.

“Why?” Jules’ suspicion rose. “What’s going on? Why does Eddy smell weird?”

“Jules,” Bella begged. “We have to go.”

With an exasperated growl, Jules turned around and rushed upstairs, Bella on her heels. They rushed around Bella’s new room, throwing the small items that had migrated from the Black house to the Swan. Once cleared out, Jules turned to head to the bathroom, when they heard the front door open and a frantic, thin voice:

“ _Bella! Jules!_ ”

“Eddy!” Jules abandoned the bathroom, rushing down the stairs, leaving Bella to throw the other girl’s hair and toothbrush into the bag.

When Bella made it down the stairs, Jules was cradling a seemingly much more alert, panicked Edythe.

“Bella, you need to take me home, _now_.” Edythe said. “What were you _thinking_?!” She looked close to tears.

“No, Eddy, no,” Jules shook her head. “You smell- _God_ , what’s happened to you?”

Edythe’s eyes narrowed slightly, “No need to be rude, Julie. Bella-”

“I’m not taking you back to that house, Edythe.” Bella said. “We’re going to the Uley’s, now. Come on.” She tried to usher the two out of the door, but Edythe remained persistent.

“You kidnapped me!” Edythe exclaimed. “I’m not going to put everyone in danger because of me!”

“Esme was drugging you,” Bella’s voice raised. “ _I’m_ not going to stand by and watch my bonded be hurt and possibly killed!”

“You don’t understand-” Bella’s cell phone ringing cut off Edythe.

A quick look at her phone showed it was her dad and Bella suddenly remembered that, in a tiny town with no new people ever, she had unexpectedly missed her first day of school.

She answered.

“Dad, I’m _so sorry-_ ”

“Bella, are you at home right now?” His voice didn’t sound at all concerned or angry, but exceedingly quiet.

“Um…” Bella looked at the clearly eavesdropping girls, who seemed as confused by the question as she. “…yes.”

“You need to go, now. Go to the Black’s house, go to Jules’ hoc, just _leave,_ ” he ordered.

Bella’s heart sank, “Why?”

“Because Esme _fucking_ Cullen just came into the station and is demanding I escort her. She thinks you kidnapped Eddy.” He said. “Bella – _go_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please please please leave a comment below and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	13. For a Moment

Jules barely gave Bella time to close her phone before she began shoving her out the door with one arm, supporting Edythe’s weight with the other; she repressed a shudder at the way Edythe’s ribs jutted under the palm of her hand and ignored the way her skin felt almost chilled. When Bella went to lock the door, Jules kept pushing forward, only allowing the door to close. After that phone call, Jules realized what Bella meant when she ran into the house earlier: Plan Double-Z, AKA Absolutely, Positively _the_ Last Resort in the Case of the Safety of Edythe Matilda Mason as Established by the Uley Clan (without the participation of one, title-named Sentinel).

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Edythe bemoaned as they gathered in the truck, squished in the middle of the three. As Bella shoved the keys into the ignition and raced out of the drive way, Jules fussed with the blankets, ignoring Edythe’s glare, until only most of Edythe’s face showed. “Esme was coming back to give me another dose.”

“Another dose of what exactly?” Jules asked, finally letting the blankets rest, though her own restlessness simply grew. “What the hell is going on?!” Then she noticed how the trees zoomed past outside and swallowed,  “And can you _please_ not drive like a complete maniac!”

“Sorry,” Bella gritted out, allowing the car to speed just a little less. “Eddy, what was she giving you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to ask for a prescription between the fever dreams and it being forced down my throat.” Jules forced herself not to laugh at Edythe’s eye roll.

“You were completely out of it the whole drive,” Bella said, her eyes darting off the road to look at Edythe for just a second. “It’s weird that you’re suddenly… _fine_.”

“I still feel like shit if that makes you feel any better.” Jules did laugh at that one.

Edythe sighed, then tilted herself until Jules supported most of her body weight. Jules felt as the tension rushed from her body, until the girl went completely limp, then wrapped one arm around her thin frame, holding her close. The restlessness calmed slightly, especially when she met Bella’s gaze over Edythe’s head. Too little time passed before Edythe began snoring softly, leaving Jules conflicted; surely Edythe needed the rest after the time she had, but Edythe always said she could never sleep in a car, not even as a little kid. It didn’t matter, though, Jules insisted. They were together now, _all_ of them. They could handle whatever happened. And the confliction and the restlessness calmed at that thought.

When they crossed onto La Push lands, Bella released her white knuckled grip on the steering wheel. The car slowed to a law-abiding speed.

“Thanks, Bella,” Jules said, voice soft in deference to the now sleeping Sentinel.

“You definitely do not need to be thanking me for this,” Bella said and, in clear forgetfulness of who she was with, muttered under her breath, “Not when I caused it.”

Jules would never say she was good with words, which is probably what lead to the following: flicking her _driving_ Guide on the bicep. Hard.

“Wha-Ow!” Bella exclaimed, quickly readjusting so the car didn’t veer into the other lane (not that there was any on-coming traffic, or any traffic at all). Jules shushed her, gesturing at the still sleeping Edythe. Bella kept her voice low as she hissed, “What was that for?”

“You did not cause this. Don’t start with that crap.” Jules said. “ _We_ are not going to be a bonded unit of annoying, self-sacrificing idiots, okay? I know you don’t know them that well yet, but I promise you that we have _plenty_ of them in our Clan.”

Bella blinked, “But-”

“Nope.”

Bella’s stunned look turned into unimpressed, near annoyance, “Might I remind you this is not what you were saying not even three days ago?”

“I was young and stupid,” Jules sniffed. “You can’t hold what I say against me.”

Bella side-eyed her, “You’re sixteen.”

“Yeah. And you’re seventeen. That’s practically an adult. _And_ I just turned sixteen three months ago,” Jules stuck her tongue out at Bella.

“…how the hell are you making me feel so old about a year age difference?”

“Year and a half,” Jules sang.

“Oh, my god, you are so obnoxious.”

And, for a moment, everything felt okay and nothing hurt.

* * *

Edythe woke when her nice, warm pillow moved away. When she tried to capture it, she realized she couldn’t move her arm, trapped as it was in a mound of blankets.

“Let me help you, Eddy.”

The Cullens never called her Eddy. She could practically hear Esme’s syrupy voice: _you are much too pretty for a boy’s name, Edythe._ Edythe forced her eyes open and, just outside the orange door of the truck, stood Jules. Turning her head, now a _much_ easier task, Bella was also climbing out of the car and grabbing things from the back. When she noticed Edythe staring, she smiled.

It wasn’t a dream.

Edythe almost wanted to cry when she saw the Uley house outside the windshield. It felt like a lifetime since she had been inside with her…with Jules’ Clan. Turning back to Jules, her best friend – her _bonded_ – smiled as she helped her out of the car. They did not get far before Sam suddenly burst out of the front door with Emily hot on his heels.

“She’s okay,” Jules assured as they came over to inspect Edythe. “We’ve got her stuff in the car. Plan Double-Z.”

Plan what-now?

The two seemed to understand what that meant, though, as they simply nodded, expressions grim, and went to get more bags from the car. Edythe watched curiously as her stuff began being unloaded. All of it things she actually cared about…

A subtle sniff of the quilt around her, one as Sam grabbed the last of the bags and came closer, Edythe felt warmth curling in her stomach. Emmett.

Emmett became a ward of Carlisle (and Esme, since it occurred after the bonding), when Edythe was thirteen years old. An online Sentinel for only half a year and fourteen years old (old enough to mostly handle himself even freshly online), his Normie parents followed the rulebook to the letter. They only made one mistake – following the rulebook at all.

He had just finished one of his mandatory classes at the center and Rosalie was about to begin one of hers. A Guide that came online due to trauma (truly, utterly horrific trauma), Rosalie was prone to major panic attacks that, if left unchecked, could bring a whole block to a stand-still and land her comatose. When he walked out of the room, Rosalie, crouched in the hall, began to have one. Immediately, Emmett went to her aid.

After the fact, they would become quasi-famous for the events that transpired: the first documented case of near-spontaneous bonding. Rosalie, a ward of Carlisle for nearly a year at that point and Edythe’s second least favorite person, was later sited as the cause. Carlisle’s research after the fact concluded that Guides who came online due to traumatic events are more likely to have spontaneous, imprint-like bonds. Before, these bonds were dismissed as couples with intense immediate attraction and then impatience leading to full-bonds. Once again, the Cullen Care Center’s changed the medical world for enhanced people.

But that part of the story didn’t matter.

What mattered was that, due to Rosalie’s ward status, she was legally tied to Carlisle, who did not feel comfortable allowing his young, traumatized ward far away from his Clan’s territory. Emmett’s family lived in Seattle, driving down once a month for a three day weekend because they believed the Cullen Care Center offered the best Sentinel training and they wanted to prove that they could take care of their enhanced son.

The last time Edythe could remember Emmett talking to them ( _on the phone_ ) was definitely over a month ago.

She couldn’t remember when he last saw them.

She did remember him coming home from a visit and sneaking into her room after Rosalie fell asleep, sometime just after New Year.

His baby brother didn’t know who he was.

“Eddy?” Jules said, shaking her slightly.

“Sorry,” Edythe shook her head and saw as Sam, Emily, and Bella carried her things inside the house. “Lost in thought.”

“C’mon,” Jules nudged her and began leading her towards the house.

When they reached the doorway, Edythe went to go inside, but Jules stopped and turned her so that they stood face to face.

“Welcome home, Eddy,” Jules smiled.

Edythe smiled back.

They entered the house.


	14. Nothing is Over

Upon entering the house, Edythe did not stay upright very long. Barely through the front door, she saw Emily traipsing down the stairs with a large stack of blankets and the pillow kept on the guest bed in the room Jules shared with Embry and Quil. Bella had already been ushering her to the couch in the living room, talking about possible drug side-effects and bond withdrawal. When Edythe began to object, Jules was there giving her a glare worthy of her mother to force her compliance.

It didn’t help that, at the breath Edythe took to further object, Sam called from the kitchen: “Edythe Matilda Mason, listen to Jules and Bella.”

With a barely suppressed growl, Edythe allowed herself to be shuffled into the living room and forced onto the couch. Then, the blankets descended, until she became more cocoon than girl, only her head visible once again.

“Don’t you think _this_ ,” Edythe spat out a feather that had found its way into her mouth, “is just a bit excessive?”

“Nope,” Jules smiled cheerfully, before plopping down next to her, cuddling into the mound of blankets.

Bella sat on the left, not cuddling per se, but her legs were tucked under her and she leant against the other side of the mound. “Not at all.”

“You need rest, Eddy,” Emily appeared again, this time with a steaming mug overflowing with hot chocolate and chocolate shavings on top in her hand. When Edythe went to grab it, though, eyes wide at the sight of her favorite drink – only Emily able to make a hot chocolate just balanced enough to be safe for Sentinels – Emily showed her other hand: a thermometer. “Temperature, then drink.”

“But I’m not sick?”

“I called Aunt Sue,” Emily explained. “She won’t be able to come by until after her shift at the Center, but she told me to check your temperature and let her know.”

“She doesn’t _need_ to come by,” Edythe said. “I’m fine. Whatever Esme’s been giving me obviously doesn’t have long-term effects. She had to give it to me, like, four times a day to keep me sedated. And, again, I’m fine.”

“Now.” Bella corrected and Edythe winced at the narrowed eyes and steely tone of voice. “You’re fine _now_. Eddy, do you really think Alice, hell, any of your…foster-siblings? Whatever they are, would turn against Esme if they didn’t think you were seriously being harmed?”

Alice.

“Alice went against Esme?”

Edythe did not care very much for her fellow wards, though she got along with Emmett sometimes. Lost in the joys of being bonded and the “world of opportunities” that came from being a bonded Guide-Sentinel pair, they didn’t understand Edythe’s reluctance to bond. Besides Emmett, none of them had true connections to family outside of the Clan. Alice especially though…

Alice all but worshipped Esme and Carlisle. She freely called Esme _mom_ and Carlisle _dad_ and lectured Edythe whenever she got angry at them.

Because Alice didn’t have anyone else (Edythe could remember coming home, sometime in the fall of her freshman year, to a pixie-like girl with track marks up and down her arms and legs sitting on her couch as still as a statue).

It took a long while before Edythe wrestled the story from Carlisle, one night when Esme took Alice to go shopping in Port Angeles at the same time Emmett and Rosalie went out on a date. Even then, she got a vague story, but one she didn’t want to make clearer, about homicides that looked like accidents, missing bodies that were actually missing children, and human experimentation.

Even Edythe could give credit where credit was due – no one thought Alice would recover and she would not have, but Esme…Esme did save her.

To turn against her…

Bella nodded, “They all did. Except Rosalie. They basically kidnapped me from the parking lot this morning to go get you.”

“Figures,” Jules scoffed. “Rosalie is such a bi-” Jules cut herself off at Emily’s raised eyebrow. “Piece of work.”

Edythe chuckled at Jules’ insult, before returning her attention back to Emily and the thermometer, then opened her mouth wide. Emily victoriously placed the thermometer and started a timer.

“What time will she be here, then?” Jules asked, referring back to Sue.

“Around two,” Emily said, then glanced at her watch. “You’ve got a few hours. I’ll get started on lunch in a little bit. You three rest up.”

But Bella was already half-way off the couch asking, “Can I help you at all?”

“Nope,” Emily smiled sweetly, pressing Bella back onto the couch. “You have all had quite the weekend.” She turned around to grab the remote off the top of the TV, handing it to Jules. “Watch some dumb mid-day television, rest, drink your cocoa. Any of you get off this couch for anything other than food or going to the bathroom,” She didn’t finish her threat, but it was understood.

As Edythe waited with the stupid thermometer in her mouth, she decided to at least get comfortable, wiggling down into the blankets, one hand capturing one of Jules’ and leaning her head against Bella’s shoulder. Her eyes began to feel heavy once again and she began to zone out to the soundtrack of Bella and Jules bickering over what show to watch. She continued to zone out until she heard the steady beep-beep-beep of the alarm and Emily reentered the living room.

Emily didn’t say anything as she crossed the room, silently taking the thermometer from Edythe who didn’t bother to even lift her head or even open her eyes. She felt entitled to the absolute exhaustion she felt after the days she went through.

“That…that can’t be right,” Edythe heard Emily say.

Well. Almost heard Emily say, because as Emily finished the end of her sentence, Edythe very suddenly lost consciousness in a way distinctly different from simply falling asleep that left her feeling her own gut wrenching terror and the confused horror from both her bonded.

* * *

Bella never really thought she would make a great guide. If she were being honest, she figured she’d make barely a good one, just decent enough for her bonded. After the past few days, however, with one of her Sentinel’s falling unconscious ( _over and over and over again_ ) and the other being dragged through the emotional gauntlet, Bella determined she wouldn’t even make a decent guide. As she sat on the couch, she thanked her lucky stars her Sentinels loved each other as much as they already did, because Bella knew she would not be the glue to hold them together. Instead, Bella tried to comfort herself with the idea of being a flimsy shield from the outside world who they still loved and knew she did her best.

Then, Edythe started seizing.

“What the _fuck_ is happening?” Jules’ voice, usually solid and smooth, was high and stringy even to Bella’s ears. Though, Bella could hardly concentrate on that when faced with the wave of static intensity radiating off Edythe.

Emily launched into action immediately, grabbing Edythe off the couch and laying her on the floor. “Jules, get Bella out of here.”

Bella heard her name being said, but it felt like it came from another dimension, separate from the static electricity she felt in her fingertips and bones. Jules grabbed on to one of those electric limbs and Bella, worried she would be hurt from a shock, tried to pull away, but before she knew it she was outside, then in trees, and finally –

At a beach.

“Sit,” the static faded slowly as she heard the waves and the breeze. Jules pushed roughly on her shoulders to sit her down on the sand. Jules knelt in front of her, grabbing Bella’s chin in her hands and forcing eye contact. “You with me, Bells?”

Bella nodded her head mutely.

Jules sighed, shakily. “Good. That’s…that’s good.” She collapsed, then, to sit next to Bella rather than kneel in front of her and look out a the ocean. She ran one of her hands through her hair then, quietly, “ _Fuck._ ”

“Eddy had a seizure,” Bella said in response.

“Yeah, she sure fucking did,” Jules growled. “And what was going on with you, exactly?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know,’ it’s a Guide thing right?” Jules asked. “Is it a physical or metaphysical thing?”

Bella shook her head, “I don’t know.”

“Is it a bonded thing then?” Jules continued. “Why didn’t I feel it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, what do you know?” Jules demanded, frustration clear in both her tone and through the bond. In the back of her mind, Bella noted that it was the clearest she had ever felt an emotion from Jules, besides the general concern towards Edythe in any situation. Frustration at Bella.

“Beyond what I learned from those self-help guides the Cullen Center puts out?” Bella sighed. “Not much.” She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, suddenly feeling eight years old again, in the back of her mother’s car after being kicked out of yet another extracurricular activity. “Nothing at all, really.”

“Bella?”

What kind of Guide allowed their Sentinels to go through what Bella’s had been through? Let alone the _amount_ in such a short period of time?

“Bells?”

God, what had she been thinking? She wasn’t cut out for this at all. Her mother was right – she sucked at being a Guide. _Pitiful really_ , Bella could hear her mother say, _since most Guide’s don’t even need to try at all._ She could picture the way her mother rifled through the books she brought home from the library, _those who try only need to try a little anyway – if its causing you this much trouble, it obviously isn’t for you_.

“Oh, Bella,” Heartbreak and sorrow, clear as day, came from Jules and Bella came back to herself.

“Sorry,” Bella felt her face flush like a fire engine as she tried to contain her emotions quickly. “Sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m horrible at not projecting, I know, it’s so _rude_.”

Jules didn’t say anything, but pulled Bella into an embrace. “I don’t know who made you feel that way, but fuck ‘em. I’m sorry for being so frustrated, it really wasn’t at you, it just…”

Instead of pulling away, Jules pulled herself closer, as if trying to burrow into Bella’s skin. “I thought we were safe, with Eddy home. But it feels like everything’s just started.”

Bella nodded, rubbing Jules’ back absentmindedly. Once Jules’ said the words, Bella realized she felt that same sinking feeling.

Nothing was over. Something had only just begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment below for more of these lovelies!
> 
> Also, sorry that Edythe keeps going out of commission, I promise things will get better for her soon (or, at least, stop ending with her passing out - she has a frail constitution)


	15. Returning

The first time Edythe came back to herself, she stared at Emily’s face against the living room ceiling, distinguished only by the hideously outdated light fixture (a strange mix of burnt orange and yellow stained glass bent into a weirdly floral shape admired in the seventies). The second, she felt herself being carried up the stairs by Sam as he tried to mumble soothing words to her, but kept stumbling over them in his barely concealed panic. Edythe wanted to say something, anything, to help calm him, but her head just lulled against his shoulder and she fell unconscious once again.

The last time, Edythe blinked her eyes open to stare at a familiar pop-corned ceiling, laying under a familiar collection of mismatched blankets and quilts, with a deep-seated annoyance for her new-found inability to stay upright and stable. The sudden concentrated bright light caused her to wince and her eyes to slam shut once again.

“Eddy?” A calm, motherly voice came from closer than Edythe expected. “Honey, it’s Sue. Sue Clearwater.”

“Hey, Mrs. Clearwater,” Edythe said. Her mouth felt too dry and her eyes squinted when she opened them to see the middle-aged nurse standing over her holding a small flashlight; by the door way, Emily hovered, hugging herself. “You got here fast.”

“Seizing is not necessarily a great sign, dear,” Sue tried to joke, but it fell flat in the tense atmosphere. “Your temperature was low which is…confusing, but also concerning.” Sue directed the light into Edythe’s eyes once again, Edythe now careful to allow Sue her examination.

The nurse rewarded her troubles with unhappy mumblings.

“Can you remember anything about what Esme was giving you?” Sue asked. “Your bonded said the connection felt deserted from your end. What did it feel like to you?”

Edythe shook her head, “I wasn’t aware enough to feel anything.” Her hands started clenching and releasing her blankets, trying to anchor herself as she remembered. “I was confused. And scared. I knew where I was, I think, but I couldn’t contextualize anything.” She turned to Sue, studying her face, knowing _her,_ and remembered looking at Emmett, but not _knowing_ him beyond his name. “I felt lost.”

Sue furrowed her brow. “What were your senses like?”

Edythe thought for a moment. “Dull. Duller, I think, than usual.” Another moment and a headshake, “She wasn’t giving me blockers. It wasn’t that kind of dull…”

“With your history,” Sue began, “Blockers would have a different effect on you now than-”

But Edythe shook her head, a bit more violently in her attempt to communicate. “No. They weren’t blockers.” Edythe stared at the ceiling. “I had to drink whatever it was.”

Edythe looked back at Sue, who looked rather discomforted by that information, her lips pursed and her eyes clouded. Sue turned to Emily.

“Does that remind you of anything?” But Emily shook her head.

“No,” Emily’s subdued tone made Edythe shift in the bed, resenting the forced still. “But, honestly, that doesn’t say much.”

“And Bella didn’t feel anything?” Sue asked. “Jules?”

Once again, Emily shook her head, looking even more uncomfortable than before as her gaze slid to Edythe for just a second before snapping back to Sue. “No, but…according to Bella, she’s severely undertrained for a registered Guide. Claims she barely knows how to keep herself from projecting and, in the not unsubstantial amount of times she’s had to center Jules or Eddy, she works on instinct and stuff she’s read in books.”

“Oh, dear,” Sue sighed.

“Where are Bella and Jules?” Edythe asked, refusing to focus on Sue’s further distress.

“Billy’s,” Sue said. “A seizure…it doesn’t translate well over a bond. Since Jules is,” Sue paused.

“Probably an Alpha-level Sentinel,” Edythe filled in for her. “Also known as, much stronger than I am as a Common.”

Sue narrowed her eyes at that comment. Edythe never understood why Sue refused to believe her ranking. As the name suggested, most Sentinels ranked as Common, the number hovering around eighty percent. Beta Sentinels, such as Carlisle, made up roughly nineteen-point-nine percent and typically ended up joining numerous clans in a small region under them (in recent history, they achieved this level of control through Care Centers). Alphas, on the other hand…

Rare barely described their scarcity just as monumental barely described what happened when two began competing over the same territory. The only Alpha Sentinels on record, dating back a few hundred years, saw all emerging incredibly young in various ways: imprint, natural, or encouraged. Where all Sentinels fought for power at least a bit, Common Sentinels being stratified somewhat (but too little a degree to be categorized), Alpha Sentinels _always_ won, because if they didn’t – Edythe didn’t care to remember those history lessons too well, her stomach always turned a little when it came to gore.

Even if Jules were an Alpha, however, it only further stressed Edythe’s station as a Common now that they bonded (being a bonded Alpha-Beta meant possibilities she refused to explore). Her bottom rank on the Cullen Clan hierarchy cemented her Common-ness. But Sue refused to let go of her “gut feeling”.

“Bella couldn’t handle being too close to you,” Emily continued, ignoring the impromptu stand-off. “She ran herself ragged these past few days.”

“And it will be good for you to _not_ be with them when Charlie brings Carlisle and Esme down.” The words were said almost under her breath as Sue began searching in her medical bag for something. The news didn’t faze Emily at all, but Edythe felt her stomach drop.

“They’re coming to La Push?” Edythe wanted to cry. “They’re going to Billy’s _house_?!”

Emily pushed off the doorway and was soon sat at the foot of Edythe’s bed, clutching her hands. “No, no panicking.” She ordered. Edythe’s mind swirled. “Eddy. _Eddy_. They aren’t going to find anything, okay? You haven’t been there since before your bonded and you never lied about going down there.”

“So what’s the plan then?” Edythe asked, her vision blurring. “I’m gonna just stay in your house? Forever?”

“No,” Emily rubbed her hand up Edythe’s arm. “This is just to make sure they know that you weren’t kidnapped.”

“But I wasn’t even lucid and, for all intents and purposes, was kidnapped!” She paused, then backtracked. “Consensually kidnapped.”

“And how would they prove that, exactly?” Emily asked, her smile devious.

Edythe’s eyebrows furrowed.

“If you were just sick, you could have suddenly gained lucidity when they left.” Her smile grew. “In order to prove you weren’t lucid, Esme would have to admit to drugging you.”

“And with Bella and Jules nowhere near you,” Sue piped up, pulling a collection tube from her bag. “The police then have no reason to connect them to anything.”

“Except scent.” Edythe said.

“Even if the police _weren’t_ Charlie,” Sue responded, “your bonded. Your scents are intertwined anyway.”

“Oh,” Edythe relaxed enough to lean against the wall. She almost smiled herself, before she saw Emily back away and Sue approach with the tube. “…Sue…”

“I need to take a sample, Eddy,” Sue said. “There might be enough trace amounts for me to figure out what she was giving you.”

Edythe hated needles. “Please, don’t.”

“Eddy…”

“ _Please_.”

Sue looked at Emily, desperate. “Em?”

“It’s been a hard week, Auntie,” Emily said. “And…I doubt you’ll get anything if Esme was giving it to her that regularly.”

Sue sighed, before nodding and stepping away while Emily came closer once again. Standing by the side of the guest bed, Emily started to guide Edythe under the blankets. The young Sentinel did feel suddenly _so_ tired again, too tired to even be annoyed by that fact.

“What about,” Edythe yawned as her head hit the pillow, “Julie and Bella?”

“They’ll be here when you wake up,” Emily smiled, pulling the blankets up beneath her chin, stroking a piece of hair out of her face. “I promise.”

Then Edythe fell asleep; quite different from falling unconscious, pleasant and nice. Absently, she could feel her bonded, aware of her near sleep state, sending calm her way, practically rocking her to sleep. She smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you are enjoying it so far, please leave a comment below!


End file.
